Shakespeare makes life better.
Most of the posts in this category are simply leftovers from a previous era before the site had categories. Over time I plan to reduce that number to zero and remove this category. Until then, here they are. I had to put something in the box.
This article on reading and writing about poems might be the most boring treatment of the sonnets I’ve ever read, but if it’s the sort of thing you need to finish your homework, then here you go.
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 30 uses terms from finance and law. How does the use of particular words or a pattern of diction affect tone and meaning or contribute to the “message” of the poem? Here you should also notice any unusual word choice and consider its function.
*yawn*
Tag: Shakespeare
This looks pretty neat – Shakespeare at the elementary school level. I love the opening picture, just the idea of kids that young drawing Shakespeare is very cool to me (much like my 14month old daughter playing with one of my Buddha statues like a toy and learning how to say “Buddha” :)). Makes it real.
They have a timeline of Shakespeare’s life, and summaries of a number of plays. It’s interesting to see Hamlet explained in about 5 or 6 sentences. (Poor Laertes doesn’t even get a credit, he’s just known as “Ophelia’s brother” :)) Even then, you could take exception to some of the assumptions — “Ophelia goes crazy because Hamlet says he doesn’t love her and she drowns herself.” There’s at least two debatable ideas in that sentence.
Hey, whatever. If it’s working and giving kids an appreciation of the Shakespearean characters and stories, I’m all for it. I hope that it inspires them to learn more about each play and just how deep everything really is, and not just to quote back what they memorized.
Ophelia’s a person, after all. Maybe there were a few other factors involved then just “Oh no he doesn’t love me.” And if she was crazy, could she really drown herself?
See, get me started and I can’t shut up…
Tag: Shakespeare
Scooby Doo Meets Hamlet. And I would have, too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!
I want somebody to do Hamlet in the style of Clue. “It was King Claudius, in the garden, with the lead pipe!”
I found the Puck Building’s entry on Wikipedia this morning in my batch of Shakespeare links. I recognize the place from the opening of tv show Will and Grace (which is noted in the article, gotta love Wikipedia). But I never knew it was supposed to be Puck. Guess I never really pictured him in that sort of hat.
Tags: Shakespeare
3 hour play too long for the attention span of your typical 11-15 year old? Wish Merchant of Venice was about 30 minutes instead? Better call in Tom Stoppard to make it happen. A BBC documentary follows the staging of Stoppard’s shortened play by the National Youth Theatre.