Shakespeare makes life better.
http://vimeo.com/4765496 I am linking this before I’ve even finished watching it. 🙂
“When I found out that I had a chance to come to the White House to deliver two or three minutes in the realm of poetry I immediately thought of Dr. Seuss…or William Shakespeare. And then I remembered how Jesse Jackson had so well acquitted himself with Green Eggs and Ham-you remember that, do you? – so I decided best I stick with Shakespeare.”
Here’s a fun question that just popped up on the Twitter radar:
When does Romeo actually learn Juliet’s name?
From what I can see there’s no explicit moment at the party, just an exchange with the Nurse: Nurse
Marry, bachelor,
Her mother is the lady of the house,
And a good lady, and a wise and virtuous
I nursed her daughter, that you talk’d withal;
I tell you, he that can lay hold of her
Shall have the chinks.
There’s an argument to be made that Capulet can’t have that many daughters, and so it wouldn’t be hard for Romeo to realize who they were talking about. But it’s not like he says, “Oh, *that’s* Juliet?” He still calls her “a Capulet” as if she was a third cousin twice removed, and not the sole daughter of the head of Capulet house. There’s plenty of logical places where he could have learned it that Shakespeare just didn’t write down (overheard at the party, Benvolio told him, etc…) I also can’t find anyplace where Romeo was on stage and anybody called Juliet by name so he would have overheard it. I just like noting stuff like this when it comes up. Best I can tell, Romeo just starts calling her Juliet during the balcony scene, and I’ve got no idea when he figured out her name.
I had fun celebrating Shakespeare holidays this year. Somehow Shakespeare’s birthday (April 23) got turned into “Shakespeare Day” in general, complete with Talk Like Shakespeare in Chicago. And yesterday, the 400th anniversary of the publication of the sonnets, I declared Sonnet Day, and had a number of people forward it along saying “I didn’t realize today was Sonnet Day!” I’ll have to remember next year to crank out some greeting cards. What other good Shakespeare holidays can we come up with? I suppose March 15 (The Ides of March) is an obvious one, but a) people associate that more with Julius Caesar than with Shakespeare and b) it doesn’t exactly represent a happy day, now does it? Crispin’s Day? That’s a good one, although I suppose technically it’s already a holiday. Is it known what day Shakespeare got married? We could celebrate his anniversary. I see November 27, 1582 as the date of the marriage license. Also noticing that their first child Susanna was born on May 26, that’s coming up next week. Hard to make a case for her getting her own holiday, though :). What else?
http://www.shakespeareteacher.com/blog/archives/1438 I have nothing but respect (and envy!) for Shakespeare Teacher’s ability to pull out such creative wonders as this summation of “The Best of the Bard”:
A witches’ brew. A fiery shrew. A knavish sprite. A portly knight. A maid’s disguise. A Jew’s suprise. A bastard’s plan. Each age of man. A paper crown. A motley clown. A nightmare haunt. This John of Gaunt. A guarded door. A jealous Moor. A castaway. St. Crispin’s Day.
A eulogy. A balcony.
The death of kings.
And other things…
I’m a bit stuck on “nightmare haunt”, though…
http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-sonnets.htm We may have gone a little wild last month in celebration of Shakespeare’s 445th birthday, but how about a little love for today, the 400th anniversary of the publication of the Sonnets? The Sonnets of the Bard appeared, without his permission, in 1609 and advertised as "never before imprinted". The publisher, although reputable, clearly wanted to make use of the celebrity of Shakespeare who by 1609 was a famous member of the Globe Theatre and could count royalty amongst his patrons. The 1609 quarto, entitled Shake speares Sonnets, was published by Thomas Thorpe, printed by George Eld, and sold by William Aspley and William Wright. On May 20, 1609, Thomas Thorpe was granted a license to publish "a Booke called Shakespeare’s sonnettes" as this entry in the Stationer’s Register attests: "Thomas Thorpe Entred for his copie vnder thandes of master Wilson and master Lownes Warden a Booke called Shakespeares sonnettes". The publisher clearly went through the correct procedures prior to publication, so despite Shakespeare’s reticence in publishing any of his works, there were apparently no irregularities by the publisher. Sonnets 138 and 144, despite the "never before imprinted" claim, had been included, albeit in a slightly different format, in The Passionate Pilgrime (1599) a poetry collection containing twenty poems by various poets. The title page to the second edition contains the inscription "By W. Shakespeare" but only five of the poems appear to be his. Once again these appear to have been published without the consent of Shake-speare. Show the sonnets some love, people. Recite a sonnet today.