I lucked out and didn’t have to learn Shakespeare in high school. I do remember having to read Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart in English class though. I’ve been demented ever since.

Another literary classic moment, we had to translate a TV commercial in Italian class. I chose the Life cereal commercial with Mikey. He likes it! Hey Mikey! Or Ehi Mico!

When I went to school, back in the Dark Ages, shortly after Shakespeare wrote his plays, we studied Julius Caesar in 9th grade, MacBeth in 10th grade, Romeo and Juliet in 11th grade, and Hamlet and King Lear in 12th grade.  I also had to memorize Mark Antony's funeral oration from Julius Caesar.  I've also visited The Shakespearian Festival in Stratford Connecticut, and I saw many Shakespearian plays when I spent a semester in England while in college.  

Other works we had to read in high school were Dickens' Great Expectations in 9th grade, Poe's Tell-Tale Heart in 10th grade, Hemmingway's The Old Man and the Sea in 11th, and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights in 12th grade.   I almost forgot, we also read William Golding;s Lord of the Flies in 12th grade as well.  As far as modern plays, we read Thornton Wilder's Our Town in 9th grade, Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie in 10th grade, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman in 11th grade, and Arthur Miller's The Crucible in 12th grade.  We read several short stories in high school as well.  At the time, we spent most of each year reading and discussing literature (stories and plays), rather than writing.  

3 hours ago, Lee Wilson said:

I lucked out and didn’t have to learn Shakespeare in high school.

Well,  I loved it. Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.’’

4 minutes ago, Bill W said:

When I went to school, back in the Dark Ages, shortly after Shakespeare wrote his plays, we studies Julius Caesar in 9th grade, MacBeth in 10th grade, Romeo and Juliet in 11th grade, and Hamlet and King Lear in 12th grade.  I also had to memorize Mark Antony's funeral oration from julius Caesar.  I've also visit The Shakespearian Festival in Stratford Connecticut, and I saw many Shakespearian plays when I spent a semester in England while in college.  

And what do you think today about it? Was it gruesome or good for you?

I had to read other stuff, naturally, like Goethe's Faust, Heinrich Heine's Loreley, Frankenstein etc...

4 minutes ago, Aditus said:

And what do you think today about it? Was it gruesome or good for you?

I had to read other stuff, naturally, like Goethe's Faust, Heinrich Heine's Loreley, Frankenstein etc...

We read excerpts from many other novels as well, and actually, I enjoyed the learning part of high school and being involved in athletics, but some of the social issues weren't so great, like trying to hide being gay, especially in the locker room, or watching the big, brute jocks picking on the smaller or socially awkward students.  

Senior year of high school I had English Lit with probably the easiest teacher in that department. I remember having to read Romeo and Juliet. We also had to read The Divine Comedy and The Iliad. 

I don't remember all that much because I was in that class with one of my good friends and my future husband. (He sat between us in two of our classes and passed our notes back and forth 🤣)

Our teacher was a single woman in her 30s who was into fashion. Every test we had included a question about what someone in the story was wearing. So yeah... I don't remember much else. 

As far as enjoying these classics...not really. I never did like being told I had to read something. 

My high school readings were much like Bill's, but included Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. I've always enjoyed reading.

Love Shakespeare! Five years of high school for me in Ontario, Steve. Grades nine through thirteen for some of us enrolled in five year academics.  

I saw Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth at Stratford when I was a young lad. Bought the soundtrack for the 1968 film and listened to it at least three hundred times... here is a song from it that is a forgotten gem...

I was a student at a a UK grammar school (state school but entrance via exam at 11). Looking back it was an amazing school, except for the English dept still stuck in pre/post WW2 style.  Friday morning poetry test: lose 0.5 for punctuation error, 1 point per word error.  This guy destroyed any possible love of poetry. This was back in 1969-70 and I can recapture my hatred of him in a flash.

luckily I had a rebel teacher for O level (16 yrs old) and we did Richard III, Chaucer’s Prologue to Canterbury Tales (in Medieval English) and 7 Victorian short stories.  All line by line.  Tough but a great learning experience.

2 minutes ago, Gary L said:

I was a student at a a UK grammar school (state school but entrance via exam at 11). Looking back it was an amazing school, except for the English dept still stuck in pre/post WW2 style.  Friday morning poetry test: lose 0.5 for punctuation error, 1 point per word error.  This guy destroyed any possible love of poetry. This was back in 1969-70 and I can recapture my hatred of him in a flash.

luckily I had a rebel teacher for O level (16 yrs old) and we did Richard III, Chaucer’s Prologue to Canterbury Tales (in Medieval English) and 7 Victorian short stories.  All line by line.  Tough but a great learning experience.

I had a math teacher who destroyed math comprehension for me. I can recapture my hate for him too. He wouldn't answer questions, and wouldn't explain anything. He was Hungarian, and had trouble with the English language, and he was an asshole. He was fired at the end of the year after the majority of his students failed and parents hit the roof. Should have been fired in the first semester.  

I hate this time change with a passion that you just can't imagine.

We did Romeo and Juliet in year 9, Death of a Salesman in year 10, Julius Ceasar and King Lear in year 11, and the Canterbury Tales and Mid Summer Nights Dream in year 12...

We did a few Shakespeare plays: Romeo and Juliet, Julius Ceasar and Hamlet.  Maybe Macbeth but that might have been college.  Also The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible.  And Wuthering Heights, Beowolf, The Canterbury Tales, Heart of Darkness and 1984 for 12th grade English Lit.  Probably more, but that was a long time ago, hard to remember. 

I have actually seen Julius Cæsar performed in a theater in Stratford-upon-Avon many years ago. Quite awesome, and I did know the 'Ides of March' quote before that. Of course, Hamlet is very popular in Denmark (including the 'rotten' line), but I've read or seen (movies of) several other plays, including Macbeth, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Troilus and Cressida, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V (Once more unto the breach, dear friends), Richard III (A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse), A Midsummer Night's Dream and several others. One of the things on my bucket list is to go to the Globe in London and see a Shakespeare play.

Wow, you guys did your Shakespeare! In Sixth form (17-18) in uk we only did three subjects for A levels during two years ( now a bit broader). Guys doing double maths and physics had 16 hours a week of maths and 8 of physics.  I didn’t do English A but was allowed to go on English outings to see Shakespeare plays at Chichester theatre.  I was so lucky 

I always had a problem with the old English writing. Beowulf was brutal for me if I remember correctly.

On the other topic, the time change has never bothered me. 

During my 4 years of high school, we were exposed to some of the world's greatest literature and plays. From The Merchant of Venice, Chaucer, The Crucible, and Moby Dick, to name a few.

I was also involved in our local and school theater clubs, where we put on plays such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelve Angry Men, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Inherit the Wind. Musicals such as Bye Bye Birdie, The Fantastics. Both on the stage and backstage as well. In one play, Ah, Wilderness, my role of young Richard had two and a half pages of uninterrupted dialogue.

St Patrick's Day is coming up soon. In my part of the world, it is also Evacuation Day, when the British were forced from Boston, thanks to Henry Knox. It is local to Boston and a few surrounding communities, and an excuse to drink green beer, avoid as much as possible those wearing Kiss Me I'm Irish paraphernalia among the parade goers. Not forgetting corned beef and cabbage, and suffering the byproduct fumes hours later. 

Changing the clocks is an honored family tradition going back eons. Every five years, it was my family's turn to participate. I used to think it was stupid to get all dressed up like Druids till I got to drive the Land Rover... 

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I'd say Beware the Ides of March  but I don't know what that means .

I'd say you are a week early, sir. 

I had teachers who taught us most of what @Bill W received, except not King Lear, but including much more Edgar Allen Poe and Chaucer.  The teacher we were supposed to have for Senior English was killed in a car crash the week before school started, so the Junior High Principal (who had formerly taught Sophomore English and Senior English) taught us the first semester, and a new female teacher was hired for the second semester.  She had just graduated with her teaching degree in English, and many of the guys suddenly started sitting on the front rows of class because she had VERY protruding and full mammary glands -- probably measuring about 44 or 46 EE or FF.  Some of the guys suddenly seemed to have more desire to learn English literature for some reason.  She liked to teach Chaucer and Melville and Miller more than Shakespeare and Poe.

2 hours ago, MJ85 said:

I'd say you are a week early, sir. 

Beware the Ides of April would be more appropriate in the U.S. Many people fear tax day. Besides, fearing the musical group that sang “Vehicle” would seem awfully silly.