Professor Watson is one of the most passionate professors I have seen at UCLA thus far. Professor Watson gives clear explanations and engaging lectures. Each week focuses on a different Shakespeare play where Professor Watson goes in-depth on the meaning and significance of the play. His engaging lectures and explanations on the play give you all the analysis you need to pass his exams. Professor Watson's exams are straightforward and ask you to analyze and compare various plays. However, if you pay attention to Professor Watson's analysis of the plays, the exams are pretty easy. As someone who previously had no interest in Shakespeare, Professor Watson made me appreciate and learn to enjoy Shakespeare.

The workload of this class is surprisingly light, if you don't consider the readings. There are only two papers (3-page and 5-7 page) and two exams (I consider exams to be much easier than papers). Professor Watson is very funny and energetic, you can tell he loves Shakespeare. Before each lecture he gives a handout of quotes that he would discuss during class and I enjoy his critical approach. He introduces the main ideas of each important Shakespeare play very well and if you are interested in literature, or in Shakespeare, you will find his insights very inspiring. The reading workload is about one play per week and you have to finish it if you want to keep up with class at all. Take the class only if you're comfortable with this.

I took this class with Dr. Watson during Spring quarter of 2020 (online during COVID). First of all, if all you’re looking for is to get a good grade in the class, be careful of the workload. Essentially, if you have little to no background experience in Shakespeare, expect to be reading essentially an entire Shakespeare play per week (except for Othello and King Lear, each of which we spent a week and a half on). In theory, you could skim through the readings to an extent or even use Cliffnotes, which is what I ended up doing, but you might suffer when you have to actually analyze the play.

However, if you can move past the workload aspect, don’t be deterred from taking the class. Dr. Watson is an AMAZING lecturer and portrays Shakespeare’s works in a way that is extremely insightful, engaging, and relatable. Even at times I had little to no clue about the what the plot of the play was, Dr. Watson’s dynamic explanations of Shakespeare really made me think and kept me engaged throughout, especially when he showed how Shakespeare’s plays address moral issues and society in real life. Attendance is not strictly required but I highly recommend it, going to lectures saved my interest in the class and probably stopped my grade from dropping even lower (especially since he uses test questions that directly relate to what he talks about in lecture). Usually he simply talks about the play of the week during lecture using occasional supplemental handouts with key quotes, although sometimes we would watch a movie based on a play together and he would provide commentary and analysis. Furthermore, my TA Marguerite (who everyone in the class had) was equally as knowledgeable, and although she did track participation in discussion from discussing the plays, she was very helpful in helping us to solidify topics covered in lecture and in preparing us for the exams and papers for the class.

There are two essays for the class, the first being 2-3 pages focused on analyzing the effect of rhetoric in a short passage within a play, and the second being 5-7 pages focused on a more broad approach of analyzing a key theme or impact of a play or making a thematic comparison between plays. The midterm and final exam were timed and had several questions that required you to write short answer responses about a certain character or event in a play, but they were generally more superficial than what was expected for papers, with some discussed directly in lecture. Again, both the papers and exams are doable, especially if you seek help from the TA - she gave direct feedback on your first paper so you will have a better idea of what to expect for the second, longer one. Overall, as long as you’re somewhat interested in English and able to put a decent amount of work in a class but get equally as much out of it, I definitely recommend taking English 90 under Watson.

I dropped this class week 10 and didn't take any of the exams/write any of the papers...or ever go to discussion lmao...so I won't comment on those. the lectures are very engaging, though. if you're someone (like me) who can't get through Shakespeare's clever, wordplay-ridden, metaphor-heavy, weird old version of English too quickly without missing half the things he's saying, the workload will be a somewhat strong since you are expected to have the play read in full before the lecture. but then again if you don't care about spoilers (and I mean practically everyone has already spoiled Shakespeare for you so who cares at this point) then you could honestly just relax a little and not bother reading the play that fast. anyway the lectures are definitely pretty interesting and prof Watson brings in a lot of insightful points about Shakespeare's characters showing truthful and complex sides of humanity. also out of all the middle aged people I have met he is for some reason the only one who's got these vibes like he actually understands internet humor and makes casual meme references during lectures in a relatable/funny way instead of a cringey way. it's weirdly impressive

Phenomenal professor, phenomenal class. By far the best course I've taken at UCLA. Professor Watson is one of those rare professors who can convey not only the content and knowledge he's gained from his research but the excitement it induces as well. You can tell from the first day that he legitimately cares about student learning and wants everyone to leave loving Shakespeare as much as he does. His lectures are always very interesting, as he teaches over a mix of more well-trodden plays (like Hamlet) as well as esoteric ones (like Measure for Measure). I think the selling point for me in this class was when we went over R&J; to be quite honest, I'm not a huge fan of it just because I've read it for so many different classes, but somehow he was able to provide a fresh new perspective on the play that was legitimately mindblowing. The midterm and final were both a piece of cake, and the two essays we wrote were also similarly easy. As long as you show up to class and discussion you don't really need to study. My TA, Misho, was also very good! Office hours are helpful, both for help on essays or just to discuss different plays with the TAs/professor. tldr; an absolutely fantastic class: interesting professor + great TAs + easy courseload = the best GE class at UCLA.