The Power of Reading Out Loud: Feeling the Magic Again

Writer: George Harold Trudeau

The sun peered through my classroom windows, the trees were full of birds singing their morning canticles. There my students were, resting their heads on their crossed arms, laying down like depressed puppies that couldn’t go outside.

In my hand was a textbook: The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. I felt my student’s dread of Shakespeare build up and fill the room.

“Okay,” I said to myself, “How do I get this book into their brains?”

I was new to teaching. I was intimidated by the spirit of apathy and technological addiction which has altered our intrinsic longing for beauty into a cheap desire to be passively entertained. Despite these barriers, I knew I had to find a way to connect with my students.

I looked at the book, then at my students, then I looked outside. I grabbed my keys, jingled over to my cabinet, plucked a fake crown from the closet, as well as a ruler, and cried out, “Students, Romans, countrymen, let’s go outside!”

My students looked at each other with curiosity and apprehension. Their faces read, “Oh, here we go again. Mr. Trudeau is being corny and weird.”

“Two households both alike in dignity!” I yelled as I paced the students like a wrestler about to enter a ring. My voice was barely audible because of a gust of wind that whipped by. I read the next line with more gusto, “In fair Verona where we lay our scene!” Some students were laughing, others uncomfortable, and others still unsure of what was going on.

As I kept reading, I heard a student whisper to another, “Is Mr. Trudeau on drugs?” I grabbed my ruler and pointed it at the student like a deadly rapier, “I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee” with a face of pure murder. The student’s face was beet red, then looking around began to laugh.

Soon enough the students moved from skepticism to acceptance, and then to eagerness as they volunteered to read different parts.

“Yes, Vince. You’re gonna be the Prince. Here is the crown. Now, remember, you are angry at the rioters. You have to break up the Capulets and Montagues. Can you sound angry when you read these lines? Good. Alright, let’s see it.”

I walked back into school feeling accomplished. Despite their struggle to connect with books, my students genuinely loved Romeo and Juliet.

It isn’t just high school students that struggle to connect with literature. Unfortunately, many feel reading to be a stale, solitary experience. They are intimidated by Shakespeare or poetry and give up in the first few lines.

I have been there. I see the words on the page and my heart feels cold. The words move to my head but my heart doesn’t feel the magic. But drama struck a different cord with my students. They loved it. I think it is because the lines are transformed into the actions of the players on the stage. Drama is not merely words on a page– it is an immersive experience.

But isn’t this true of all literature? Literature began as oral traditions passed along to each generation. Families would gather around the bard to hear of Odysseus of Gilgamesh. There was nothing solitary or stale about ancient literature.

In religious services, congregants will read passages from holy books in unison, or perform call-response liturgy. It seems we may have lost this in our hyper-individualistic culture. What ancient literature and religion seem to be teaching us is that there is something magical, dare I say, sacramental about reading out loud.

When one reads out loud, we turn down the voices in our head, the to-do lists, the emails, and we turn up the literature. We take arms against the sea of worries and the thousand cynical thoughts that flesh is heir to. We turn up the written word so that we can experience the joy of reading.

Rather than let the words fall through your brain like a sieve, hold up the words off the page by using your lips. Speak the words like the bards and actors of old. Speak the words trippingly off the tongue, out for the world to hear, and back into your ears. You might surprise yourself, embrace yourself, and maybe even laugh at yourself. Who knows? You might feel the magic again.

George Harold Trudeau is a high school English teacher. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English from the College at Southeastern in Wake Forest, NC. He enjoys teaching Shakespeare, American Novels, and Poetry to his students. In their spare time, he and his wife Estefany enjoy traveling to cities and attending Sunday services at their church. You can find George reading C.S. Lewis books in coffee shops, or taking in the beauty of old churches with stained glass windows.

Twitter: George Trudeau