the Doctor (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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genessia2017-09-07 03:05 am
guitar_hero) wrote in genessia2017-09-07 03:05 am
Entry tags:
Video/action
[the camera turns on to the Doctor sitting on his desk in the lecture hall, one leg tucked under the other, reading a book. On the whiteboard is written "Astrophysics" in neat handwriting.
The class, unseen behind the camera is rustling and yawning, murmuring quietly. After a moment, the Doctor clears his throat and the class quiets.]
Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck;
And yet methinks I have Astronomy.
[he wiggles his hand back and forth]
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, of season's quality;
Not can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind.
[gestures around the room.]
Or say with princes if it shall go well
By oft predict that I in heaven find:
[he looks straight into the camera, as if staring at someone beyond it who is watching. Intense. Direct]
But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive
And, constant stars, in them I read such an art [he places a hand over his heart]
As truth and beauty shall together thrive,
If from thyself, to store thou wouldst convert;
Or else of thee this I prognosticate:
[he lowers his eyes]
Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date.
[he lets silence fall as if waiting for something. Finally a reedy male voice asks if this is literature class and the Doctor looks up]
No. But I'm so very glad you asked. Good question, Johnny. [the student starts to speak as if correcting the name but the Doctor goes on without him] This is, as is so helpfully written on the board, Astrophysics.
So why, dear Professor, you ask, are you reading us such a lovely and well constructed sonnet in your melodic tones which would make bards bite their lutes in half from envy?
Allow me to tell you
[he snaps the book shut and rises from the desk] First, lets look at the man behind the words.
William Shakespeare. [he writes the name on the board] Born April 21st, 1564, in Stratford-on-Avon in England, on the planet Earth in what is sometimes known colloquially as the Sol System of the Milky Way-- or in certain bars in Regulus: Invasion Central.
[he begins to draw the solar system on the board]
He was a playwright, poet, actor, general man about town and latent fan of J.K. Rowling hundreds of years before she was born.
[he makes a dot in the third planet from the sun as if locating the very birthplace before turning back to the class and pacing, watching them]
Other lines of his?
Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt my love for you.
Hamlet, Act two, scene two.
Or:
I am as constant as the northern star,
Of whose true-fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
Julius Ceaser, Act three, scene one
For those lovers in the audience?
O, swear not by the moon, the fickle moon, the inconstant moon, that monthly changes her circle orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.
Romeo and Juliet, Act two, scene two
My personal favorite:
By being seldom seen, I could not stir
But like a comet I was wondered at
Henry IV, Part one, act three
So what's special about these? At least in terms of Astrophysics, his grasp of astronomy is basic at least, frivolous at worst. And, like Johnny
["Carlisle!"]
so helpfully pointed out, this is not, in fact, literature.
But listen to how Shakespere expresses these terms, how evocative it is. The universe is not just some cold arid place ruled by maths and unreachable stars-- no, it's a place full of wonder. Of mystery. Of emotion. Connection.
The moon is not just an empty rocky satellite, it is a woman in love, but fickle, changing monthly. The northern star is not just some speck of light, it is the guiding light. The one that carries ships to shore, regardless of season, a star of homecoming and outgoing and constance.
To understand astrophysics is to understand that you and I and everyone else, even in this pocket dimension with unfamiliar stars, are connected, not only to the place we are standing, not only to each other, but to the universe itself. In essence we are not just studying out there, but ourselves. How we came to be, how we change, evolve, through evolution, culture, time everything that makes us who we are.
So for that reason, words are very important. In this class, you will not only learn astrophysics, aside from whatever else I choose to cram your heads with, but learn how to speak about it to others, learn how to teach and who knows? William's words are still heard and learned and loved thousands of years after his death. Yours could last even longer.
[he perches on his desk once more and looks at the classroom and then at the camera]
Any questions?
The class, unseen behind the camera is rustling and yawning, murmuring quietly. After a moment, the Doctor clears his throat and the class quiets.]
Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck;
And yet methinks I have Astronomy.
[he wiggles his hand back and forth]
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, of season's quality;
Not can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind.
[gestures around the room.]
Or say with princes if it shall go well
By oft predict that I in heaven find:
[he looks straight into the camera, as if staring at someone beyond it who is watching. Intense. Direct]
But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive
And, constant stars, in them I read such an art [he places a hand over his heart]
As truth and beauty shall together thrive,
If from thyself, to store thou wouldst convert;
Or else of thee this I prognosticate:
[he lowers his eyes]
Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date.
[he lets silence fall as if waiting for something. Finally a reedy male voice asks if this is literature class and the Doctor looks up]
No. But I'm so very glad you asked. Good question, Johnny. [the student starts to speak as if correcting the name but the Doctor goes on without him] This is, as is so helpfully written on the board, Astrophysics.
So why, dear Professor, you ask, are you reading us such a lovely and well constructed sonnet in your melodic tones which would make bards bite their lutes in half from envy?
Allow me to tell you
[he snaps the book shut and rises from the desk] First, lets look at the man behind the words.
William Shakespeare. [he writes the name on the board] Born April 21st, 1564, in Stratford-on-Avon in England, on the planet Earth in what is sometimes known colloquially as the Sol System of the Milky Way-- or in certain bars in Regulus: Invasion Central.
[he begins to draw the solar system on the board]
He was a playwright, poet, actor, general man about town and latent fan of J.K. Rowling hundreds of years before she was born.
[he makes a dot in the third planet from the sun as if locating the very birthplace before turning back to the class and pacing, watching them]
Other lines of his?
Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt my love for you.
Hamlet, Act two, scene two.
Or:
I am as constant as the northern star,
Of whose true-fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
Julius Ceaser, Act three, scene one
For those lovers in the audience?
O, swear not by the moon, the fickle moon, the inconstant moon, that monthly changes her circle orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.
Romeo and Juliet, Act two, scene two
My personal favorite:
By being seldom seen, I could not stir
But like a comet I was wondered at
Henry IV, Part one, act three
So what's special about these? At least in terms of Astrophysics, his grasp of astronomy is basic at least, frivolous at worst. And, like Johnny
["Carlisle!"]
so helpfully pointed out, this is not, in fact, literature.
But listen to how Shakespere expresses these terms, how evocative it is. The universe is not just some cold arid place ruled by maths and unreachable stars-- no, it's a place full of wonder. Of mystery. Of emotion. Connection.
The moon is not just an empty rocky satellite, it is a woman in love, but fickle, changing monthly. The northern star is not just some speck of light, it is the guiding light. The one that carries ships to shore, regardless of season, a star of homecoming and outgoing and constance.
To understand astrophysics is to understand that you and I and everyone else, even in this pocket dimension with unfamiliar stars, are connected, not only to the place we are standing, not only to each other, but to the universe itself. In essence we are not just studying out there, but ourselves. How we came to be, how we change, evolve, through evolution, culture, time everything that makes us who we are.
So for that reason, words are very important. In this class, you will not only learn astrophysics, aside from whatever else I choose to cram your heads with, but learn how to speak about it to others, learn how to teach and who knows? William's words are still heard and learned and loved thousands of years after his death. Yours could last even longer.
[he perches on his desk once more and looks at the classroom and then at the camera]
Any questions?
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