So next week I’ll at long last be heading in to a classroom to talk about Shakespeare.  In this particular instance we’re talking about the sonnets, and I’m busy gathering material that I can use.

I’ve been informed by the teacher that, in preparation for the lesson, they “studied” Sonnet 29.  That is, she read and paraphrased it to them.  They also read Sonnet 18.  This was done mostly as a lesson in iambic pentameter.

Here’s my question to you, loyal readers.  What are the best sonnets I can use for examples in class?  We’ll be doing several games involving filling in blanks and shuffling words so we’ll need a handful of sonnets to work with that the kids don’t already know.

Guidelines

1) The iambic pentameter should be about as straightforward as it can be.  If we’re trying to get across five feet of baDUM baDUM baDUM baDUM baDUM and giving them puzzles where they need to put that meter back into place it won’t be fair to throw in too many twists.

2) Family friendly.  I love #130 as an example, just not sure what to do with “breasts are dun” yet.  Most likely going to come through as “flesh is dun” just so I can use it, but I’d rather have examples I don’t have to mess with.

3) Not too archaic.  If the kids need to be going to the glossary (me) for every single line, they’re never going to understand it.

I’d like to use Sonnet 12, as an example.  I think the imagery is something they could grasp, the meter is straightforward, and I don’t think I have to worry too much about the family friendliness of a word like “breed”.

Who’s got some help for me? Carl Atkins, you out there? You always seem to have a few sonnets to rattle off when we bring up the topic.  What’s that one about thinking about his beloved and he can’t sleep?  That’s a good one.

Our revels will soon be ending, and our little lives will be rounded with a stunning new t-shirt because we hit our goal!  I just wanted to leave a note here for those people that really were waiting until the end, possibly to see if we made it (so there’s no risk), possibly to see if we *didnt* make it so they could help put us over the edge.  Either way, you’ve still got (as of this writing) about 9 hours to go add your name to the list and get a shirt if you wanted one.

For those that have already joined the campaign, remember that your payment will be charged so don’t suddenly forget what you signed up for :).  But shirts should be arriving by the end of the month.  I look forward to hearing reports of sightings in the wild!

Shakespeare for everyone!

P.S. – No more nagging!  I know that’s the most exciting part for some people.  Thanks for putting up with me.

Jonson was pals with Shakespeare (and defended him often), but considered himself a genius and Shakespeare a hack (he often heckled Shakespeare’s plays).

…and I realized that I probably have a lot to learn about this aspect of Shakespeare’s life.  I get that Jonson thought he was a genius, I’ve seen that before.  But is it true that he looked down on Shakespeare’s work?  If there was really any heckling I can only assume that it was good-natured among friends, and I can totally believe that.

Who wants to take the floor and tell us about Mr. Jonson?

I love a good “Hey look at Shakespeare *this* way” theory, and the TV Tropes brought me some new ones to play with. Hat tip to Michigan Shakespeare Festival for posting about this on their Facebook page!

How about the idea that Iago doesn’t exist?  That he is just the personification of the individual evil side of each character?

He’s the incarnation of that voice within every person’s mind, which is why it’s so easy for him to trick everyone into believing what he says. He’s not saying it — they’re thinking it. Emilia is just a klepto with self-esteem issues; Othello is suffering from paranoia (or, if you hold that his seizures are real, he’s also having epileptic hallucinations); Roderigo is generally unstable; Cassio has a serious drinking problem… the list goes on.

Now, obviously we’re out of the realm of what Shakespeare may have actually intended – there’s no way he had the narrative to even think of something like this.  But in terms of modern interpretation, could you pull this off?  I wonder whether some sort of weird version could be made where there is no Iago character, but instead each of the characters listed above takes turns reciting Iago’s appropriate lines as if schizophrenic.

How many scenes does Iago have by himself?

There’s a few more good theories on that page (like Horatio being a hired assassin sent by Fortinbras) that maybe we’ll get to another time.

If you didn’t see the email, or the Facebook posts, or the Twitter tweets… our Shakespeare is Universal campaign has reached its goal, with 3 days to spare!  If you’re one of those 100 you will get your shirt, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for joining our cause.  As I wrote in a previous email this wasn’t just an opportunity to go fishing for funds, this was a bit of a crisis of faith on my part, and I’d really convinced myself that if after all these years I couldn’t find an audience of 100 people who were willing to make a real world commitment to what we were trying to do here?  Let’s just say I was seriously thinking about how I’d be spending my time going forward.

BUT!  That’s all in the past, because you do like Shakespeare, you really really like Shakespeare, and I am a very happy geek heading off into the weekend.  I will stop checking my dashboard every 3 minutes like I’ve been doing for the last 3 weeks, and I will sleep soundly.

Thanks again.

Please note that the campaign does not officially end until sometime Monday afternoon (the page actually has a counter), so if you planned on buying a shirt you still have time to do so.  Of course you won’t get to ride the rollercoaster that we all just did of not knowing whether they’d ever exist!  You’ll just know you’re getting yours.  And that’s ok, too.  Shakespeare for everybody!