Fortunately I had good teachers, especially on the drama side. I never will forget sitting in a course called "Modern Drama" and discussing "Ghosts":

Prof: And, how was venereal disease spread?
Student: By seamen.
Prof: (feigning shock) Miss Smith! I know that you are a modern young lady, but really!!!

At that point she blushed and the class roared with laughter.

This was the same prof who REQUIRED us to memorize and understand the definition of tragedy from Aristotle's "Poetics." As a result I destroyed the mind of the English prof who graded my Comprehensive Exam: the question was, "So-and-so states that "King Lear" is an absurdist comedy. Discuss." I wrote two and half blue books, ringing in Aristotle and Esslin's "Theater of the Absurd"." I was told later, at a party, "I've NEVER had anyone quote Aristotle EXACTLY -- I looked it up!"

Maybe Cole Porter said it best:

MOBSTERS:
The girls today in society
Go for classical poetry,
So to win their hearts one must quote with ease
Aeschylus and Euripides.
But the poet of them all
Who will start 'em simply ravin'
Is the poet people call
The bard of Stratford-on-Avon.

Brush up your Shakespeare,
Start quoting him now.
Brush up your Shakespeare
And the women you will wow.
Just declaim a few lines from "Othella"
And they think you're a heckuva fella.
If your blonde won't respond when you flatter 'er
Tell her what Tony told Cleopaterer,
And if still, to be shocked, she pretends well,
Just remind her that "All's Well That Ends Well."
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kowtow.

Brush up your Shakespeare,
Start quoting him now.
Brush up your Shakespeare
And the women you will wow.
If your goil is a Washington Heights dream
Treat the kid to "A Midsummer Night Dream."
If she fights when her clothes you are mussing,
What are clothes? "Much Ado About Nussing."
If she says your behavior is heinous
Kick her right in the "Coriolanus."
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kowtow,
And they'll all kowtow,
And they'll all kowtow.

Brush up your Shakespeare,
Start quoting him now.
Brush up your Shakespeare
And the women you will wow.

Brush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kowtow.