You know you are in the right place when a lecturer gets up and starts comparing Shakespeare with music festivals.
On Thursday 29th September, a plethora of FHS students and teachers attended the first academic enrichment lecture of the year given by Mrs.Philips; ‘The Importance of Place in Literature’. Mrs.Philips spoke in depth about the idea of ĀplaceĀ – not only as a physical location, but also as a symbol. In many Shakespeare plays, young people mass together to rebel against social conventions – much like music festivals. For the characters (or indeed, for the music lovers), these open, outdoor spaces symbolise the rejection of rules and social expectations.
Writers from a variety of eras were mentioned; Chaucer, Shakespeare, Wordsworth and Hardy. For many of these artists, the countryside represented the ideal – a place of natural beauty, meant for rest and contemplation, or more recently, a digital detox.
These are just a few ideas from Mrs.PhilipsĀs fascinating talk. It is never an easy task, to limit yourself to speak for 45 minutes on a subject you are passionate about. Mrs.Philips not only managed to speak efficiently and revealingly, but also to inspire many of the audience members to go and read some of the works of literature she mentioned. FHS is such an important place for nurturing academic minds, whether they are teacher or student.
Thank you to Mrs.Philips for a brilliant lecture and to Ms.Zugg for organising the academic lecture series for this year. We are looking forward to many more intellectual discoveries!
Helena, LVI
