Teaching Tennyson My Way: Academic Platypus

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I'm back in Tennyson --with seniors this time.  The higher grade level means that we can go even deeper than we did last year.  It also means that I feel more comfortable teaching it my way with free-wheeling associations galore.  I've brought up Kennedy's Camelot, Bob Dylan (The Times They Are a Changein'), Simon and Garfunkel (The Sound of Silence), The Band Perry (If I Die Young), Hellboy (The Wild Hunt, and The Storm), and "The Lord of The Rings."  Showing the students Mignola's re-telling of the story of Nimue and Merlin right when they were reading through Tennyson's "Merlin and Vivian" was priceless.  I also enjoy any chance I get to read passages from Tolkien out loud.  Fun times.

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