I thought and thought for awhile, and I realized I didn't really have much of an opinion on the poetry we've read thus far. I believe they are all good poems, but that goes without saying, we wouldn't be reading them if they were poor. After all, we can come up with those ourselves as easily as we choose.

Matthew Tillsman has a fantastic style that keeps you reading line after line... even if you don't want to or don't like what you are reading.

Do not forget that is the point of writing; not only to convey thought and meaning, but to make a connection from one word to the next, one sentence into a paragraph, and keep you reading.

In this he succeeds very aptly.

However, this post is not about Matthew Tillsman, it is actually about William Shakespeare.

And namely, my question is this; why is he considered one the greatest poets alive?

It is true he is certainly good, but is it because his poetry is ageless? Is it his syntax, or his structure? Just what is it that makes Shakespeare into the view we have of him today?

This question occurred to me when I realized that in every poetry class I have had his poetry has been present, at some point, somewhere in the class.

I question this, because is he mentioned because he is actually that good of a poet that he should be mentioned in every class (Hemingway, I think was better), or is it because it is culturally engrained?

Do the Chinese or Indians teach Shakespeare as avidly as we?

-Alex