Before his introduction to comedy, Dr. White declares A Midsummer Night’s Dream to be one of the few perfect works of art, and that it is comedy with a serious core. He then delves into the nature of comedy: a structure of action leading to delight, renewal, and re-invigoration. He goes on to describe the Greek satyr play, the beginning of comedy; and he discusses the history of “old comedy” originating in Greece and the “new comedy” (romantic comedy) that came from Rome. Dr. White says comedy brings us down to earth and that it must be true.
Here Dr. White begins his detailed analysis of the groups of lovers in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by describing the different poetic forms in which Shakespeare has them speak, i,e., iambic pentameter, rhymed couplet, prose, etc. It is, he says, a play about weddings, with recurrent themes such as the moon and dreams. White points out the absurdity of young lovers who go to extremes to break the law, and he sites ones of Shakespeare’s most famous lines, “The course of true love never did run smooth.”
Dr. White continues his detailed analysis of the interaction between the lovers in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Now he concentrates on the group known as the mechanicals, as they prepare to put on a play within the play. It is farce, burlesque, even slapstick, as Shakespeare makes loving fun of these characters. Dr. White reveals how they have no imagination, which he proclaims to be the meeting ground between love and art; and he goes on to explore the theme of the real play, i.e., that love is irrational. But that Shakespeare sees unity in the human condition.
Dr. White’s deep love of Emily Dickinson is apparent in the very beginning of this lecture as he contrasts her humility and “littleness” with contemporary poet Walt Whitman’s overwhelming ego and sweeping lines. He covers the poet’s family as depicted in her letters, her isolation, the sheer volume of her poetry, and the harsh criticism she received from the publisher to which she submitted some of her poems. Dr. White explains and analyses several of her poems, both the popular and the little-known, including “Success is Counted Sweetest” and “I’m Nobody, Who Are You?.” The originality and peculiarities of her style, such as her use of dashes, unusual capitalization, and off rhymes, are pointed out and discussed. Finally, Dr. White speaks of the two gentleman whom she was close to and wrote to frequently, though her relationship with both progressed no further than exchanging letters.
In this lecture, Dr. White examines Shakespeare’s early comedy Love’s Labour’s Lost, unique because it does not give the ending expected of a comedy. The significance of language in the play is explained, with Dr. White demonstrating its obsession with language’s power and noting that the art of speaking is practically disappearing in the modern world. The beginning conflict between intellectualism and love is explained, but it is shown that the young men are doing it for the wrong reasons, simply in order to gain fame. Dr. White shows the contrast between women and men in the play: the women are sensible and practical, while the men are idealistic and rather foolish. He touches on the innocence and wisdom of Shakespeare’s women, and how these qualities make them hard to depict on modern stages. Finally, he explains how certain characters like Don Adriano de Armado are overdrawn to show what the rest of them could become if they do not reform themselves.
Dr. White refutes the the charges made against Emily Dickinson in recent years that she was a manic-depressive with deep mental issues, explaining that she simply knew the extremes of joy and sorrow and expressed them in her poetry and that she could never have kept house for her father so efficiently if she had had severe psychological issues. The inspiration of her verse from Protestant hymns, nursery rhymes, and folk songs is demonstrated, and specific poems read and analyzed, including “Hope is the Thing with Feathers” and “I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed.” Dr. White demonstrates Dickinson’s grasp of nature’s place and criticism of the transcendentalism popular in her time, and discusses her struggle with religion as evident in the religious poetry that she wrote. Finally, he examines her attitude towards death and analyzes her famous poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.” These lectures are a beautiful tribute to one of America’s greatest and most humble poets.
