either talks way above your head or way below, boring class too

talks too slow, not very clear, nice person, could make class more interesting

Always really prepared for class, but was absolutely useless in teaching Shakespeare. We only did theory, and only of two different people,and if you disagreed with them (Girard and Gans) he would try and make you feel like an idiot.

he's probably not a bad guy... but his lectures..i can't STAND them.

Only recommendation is to switch sections.

By far the worst professor ever! Not only is he extraodinarly rude to his students and his TA's, but he begs the question by never getting to his point. Not only that, but he coughs on average of 80 times a lecture (yes, we did a cough count)

So boring I could have poked my eyes out. Talks nonsense non-stop.

He does know his stuff BUT he is really STUBBORN. Also, he is very pompous in so many ways!!

This is a horrible prof. He is very rude to students and does not help at all. His lectures are not worth going to at all. This guy either coughs or clears his throat every other second, and yes a cough tally was taken. Marks are given by TAs so if you're lucky then you'll get a good one.

Horrible Prof. DON'T take his classes. All we do are student led discussions and he just tries to cut in once in a while and doesn't teach. Uses students as a way of "teaching". Very excited about taking this class before, but obviously he ruined it all for me, and everyone else

Never led classes - too much emphasis on student led presentations - felt like we spent more time analyzing critiques of the play, rather than the play itself. Poorly planned/devised majors seminar.

It seems our Lord Lackabeard refuses to see any opinions other than his own, and insists upon reading Shakespeare like a book rather than a play. Extremely intellectual but extremely disappointing.

HE understands Shakespeare completely, he does not teach it very well. Instead he relies on paraphrasing the plays, and then questioning you at the exam on obscure passages. He's very passionate about the work but he lacks the ability to convey the contexts to his students. Take Kuchar instead.

Has a big problem with accepting ideas that differ from his own (even when backed up with textual evidence). I do not recommend taking Shakespeare with him as he has a deep intellectual understanding of the material but does not know how to convey it to people who are still learning about it.

I actually found his analyses pretty basic. He focuses on plot and only a few figurative devices. He could have done so much more with his class time. If you really love Shakespeare, get a different prof.

I did not like this prof. I found that he did not provide any insightful information on the plays that students of this level would not have already thought of. His comments on papers are vague and useless. I would not recommend him.

Not a very helpful professor. He doesn't accept opinions that differ from his own. His paper comments are useless. I got a fairly good grade and still felt like he did a poor job. He read of comments from this site first day and it was kind of funny because they all ended up being true.

I really did not like this professor. His lectures are uninspiring and basic. Spends a huge percent of each class showing movie clips and offers little insight on the plays outside of an extended plot summery. The comments regarding his disrespect for any opinion other than his own are true. Boring, arrogant and narrow minded. AVOID

Just DO NO TAKE HIS CLASS. I disregarded the comments here and my grade suffered for it! The university should take the responses of students and actuly deal with a Professor this bad.

I'm a straight A english student, in third year. I generally do very well in my classes, and study very hard. However, van Oort gave me B and Cs on my assignments... He has failed over half the class. He is too harsh a marker and he should be avoided at all costs. The university should do something about his unfair marking. Avoid!! Save your GPA!

He marks extremely hard and it is difficult to figure out what he is looking for He is set in his ways and his class average is typically 65% on assignments. I usually receive 75% or higher in english classes and got 68% overall in his class. I took 366C with another prof and got 78%, so its evident that his marking style is poor.

I found his lectures quite boring: despite his obvious enthusiasm for the topic he had trouble engaging the class. He is more than fair, however. If you do the reading and put the work in you will get a good grade.

I only went to class because he took attendance every day. His lectures were slow and not at all engaging. I only made it through the semester by staring at his jawline and admiring how attractive he is. He can be funny sometimes but his lectures are pretty boring.

He and the class was simply... Meh.

as a person, i like richard. he is passionate and very comical. but he is an incredibly difficult marker and was consistently unclear with his expectations, which frustrated myself and many other people in the class.. for the sake of my gpa i wouldnt take again... be warned

He's an alright prof, found the lectures to be boring but that is expected with a lot of classes, prof himself is a nice enough guy, tough grader though so be cautious of that

Lectures are convoluted and do not provide much substance. Class was easy, books were interesting, but overall would say it's a waste of time.

His lectures are incredibly dull, and there's basically nothing on the PowerPoints. He doesn't record his lectures either, and he takes attendance every day. He's also a very harsh marker—I've never gotten a grade as low as the one I received in his class. All the lectures feel like a glorified book club.