Jim Kurz
Mrs. Lunde -- teaching Beowulf to the Angels
The recent posts about Mrs. Lunde put a smile on my face. I learned important lessons from her, but frankly I didn’t like her –at first.
Before I began her class, when I read a book I’d get lost in the story. However, Mrs. Lunde insisted that I must appreciate, also, the ideas, the messages and themes that drove the author’s story.
It was a concept that I refused to accept. Refused that is until we read “Macbeth”. That’s when I got it! What made Macbeth great for me was its message of what the allure of power can do, and how it can blind a person to moral reason and common sense.
This was an insight that I was able to put to good use in a conversation that I had with John W. Dean of Watergate fame. He was on a book tour peddling his book Blind Ambition, when our paths crossed. Based on what I learned from Mrs. Lunde, I was able to knowledgeably discuss how the misuse of power can cause an individual to forsake their moral code.
Also, from my time in Mrs. Lunde’s English class, the concept that is indelibly etched in my mind is the power of the English language to change over time. A view that she hammered home by having us memorize the first 13 lines of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, as originally written. Memorizing Middle English was tough sledding. But, today, I can still recite a good portion of those lines just as Chaucer wrote them over 600 years ago.
Memorizing lines written in the English language of the 1400's taught me that our language is in a constant state of flux. And, that’s a valuable lesson to learn. The language changes because its speakers change.
So, it is with deep and abiding thanks that I say -- “here’s” to you Mrs. Lunde!” I am sure that right now you are in English Teachers’ Heaven teaching Beowulf to the Angels. Jim Kurz
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