I performed a bit of Shakespeare on my Amtrak train to work.
\n\nPlease understand that: 1. This was AI’s idea, not mine. 2. Performed may be a stretch, since in the quiet car all verse must be kept to a minimum — so it was closer to a mumble.
\n\nWhy was I mumbling Shakespeare? I had set out to read the 154 sonnets, one each day, and then reflect on them for a few minutes in a chat with Claude. I embarked on this strange and nerdy exercise as a sort of daily meditation. I hoped to sharpen my focus each morning, before revving up to the warp-speed reading my day job demands — and to test using AI as a literary tutor.
\n\nThe sonnets are much weirder and wondrous than I expected, full of strikingly modern, neurotic musings on beauty, desire and time. They are also confounding. When I complained of my struggle to feel the music and rhythmic tapping of Shakespeare’s iambic pen, Claude insisted I recite Sonnet 23 aloud.
\n\nClaude: You’ve been reading with your eyes and your mind. But the sonnets were written for the ear.
\n\n“As an unperfect actor on the stage …” I began…
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/