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Thread: Happy Birthday Shakespeare!

  1. #31
    Registered User Calidore's Avatar
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    I can read his stuff and appreciate the writing, but I seldom feel anything more than appreciation of good work. I tend to agree with those who point out that they're plays and meant to be watched in performance rather than just reading the script. I know reading Macbeth pales in comparison to watching Ian McKellen and Judi Dench tear it up on screen.

    In other words, where Shakespeare's concerned, the movie really is better than the book.
    You must be the change you wish to see in the world. -- Mahatma Gandhi

  2. #32
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    I should also say that I in no way dispute that Shakespeare's genius as a writer. I just don't enjoy his work.

  3. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mutatis-Mutandi View Post
    90% of students hate it (conservative estimate), and I've yet to meet a teacher who likes teaching it.
    Being a science geek, I only studied one play "in class" (Macbeth), and most of the students in the class, like me, enjoyed it greatly. The teacher obviously enjoyed teaching it. Sounds like you have had really bad luck with teachers. This one, serious encounter, inspired me to (eventually!) read most of the plays, and gave me a love for literature in general. So thank you Shakespeare! You gave me a new, consuming interest. When quantum mechanics paled, I had you to turn to. Happy birthday, indeed!

  4. #34
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    I found Macbeth to be more interesting than Hamlet.

    Maybe I need to re-read both to see why the majority of his readers prefer Hamlet.

    Although his portfolio is greater than that of Milton, not a single work of his matches Paradise Lost.

    I repeat, a single work as in one-to-one comparison, not all of his plays combined.

    I am sadden by the current state of poetry today. Since the advent of the novel's dominance, poetry has been reduced as a secondary concern of literature. A discussion of such matter deserves its own thread. I will start as soon as I am done with my project.

  5. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by Babyguile View Post

    Is the BBC planning anything to celebrate it?
    They are planning something big this year.

    I'm in the UK, and they keep on dropping hints about the "Shakespeare Unlocked" season, before any half-serious programme. Here's a link:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/abouttheb...eason-qa.shtml

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    Quote Originally Posted by mal4mac View Post
    Being a science geek, I only studied one play "in class" (Macbeth), and most of the students in the class, like me, enjoyed it greatly. The teacher obviously enjoyed teaching it. Sounds like you have had really bad luck with teachers. This one, serious encounter, inspired me to (eventually!) read most of the plays, and gave me a love for literature in general. So thank you Shakespeare! You gave me a new, consuming interest. When quantum mechanics paled, I had you to turn to. Happy birthday, indeed!
    What class? I'm talking about freshmen students, ages 14-15.

  7. #37
    Registered User kelby_lake's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cacian View Post
    Really?
    I thought his date of birth was unknown or was I misreading it with something else?
    It is unknown but as he was baptised on the 26th, they guessed that he was born shortly before that, so they picked the 23rd (probably because it's St George's Day).

  8. #38
    Registered User kelby_lake's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mal4mac View Post
    They are planning something big this year.

    I'm in the UK, and they keep on dropping hints about the "Shakespeare Unlocked" season, before any half-serious programme. Here's a link:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/abouttheb...eason-qa.shtml
    It's tying in with the Cultural Olympiad.

  9. #39
    Registered User Delta40's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Charles Darnay View Post
    I would strongly advice not reading it until you have read 1 Henry IV. You must see Falstaff in his greatness before he is dashed to pieces.
    Okey Dokey then Henry IV it is first. I'm kind of putting off all the King's Plays till last but I will be guided by your recommendation here.
    Before sunlight can shine through a window, the blinds must be raised - American Proverb

  10. #40
    Registered User kelby_lake's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mutatis-Mutandi View Post
    What class? I'm talking about freshmen students, ages 14-15.
    We had lots of people who liked it in my class and we were thirteen (at our school you learnt Shakespeare from age 11). Granted, they were the "easy" plays but still.

  11. #41
    In the fog Charles Darnay's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Delta40 View Post
    Okey Dokey then Henry IV it is first. I'm kind of putting off all the King's Plays till last but I will be guided by your recommendation here.
    People are often afraid of the histories, but Henry IV is a great one to start.
    I wrote a poem on a leaf and it blew away...

  12. #42
    confidentially pleased cacian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Charles Darnay View Post
    People are often afraid of the histories, but Henry IV is a great one to start.
    why would they afraid of history?
    do you consider shakespeare as a true of portrayer of history?
    it may never try
    but when it does it sigh
    it is just that
    good
    it fly

  13. #43
    confidentially pleased cacian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kelby_lake View Post
    It is unknown but as he was baptised on the 26th, they guessed that he was born shortly before that, so they picked the 23rd (probably because it's St George's Day).
    Thanks Kelby I was just pontificating about why his birth was unknown since they every single detail about his life his parents his house etc..
    it may never try
    but when it does it sigh
    it is just that
    good
    it fly

  14. #44
    Registered User Delta40's Avatar
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    I imagine the records of births and deaths were not quite as accurate as they are now and I had heard that often the date of baptism was often considered the more relevant date too. Is that true?
    Before sunlight can shine through a window, the blinds must be raised - American Proverb

  15. #45
    confidentially pleased cacian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Delta40 View Post
    I imagine the records of births and deaths were not quite as accurate as they are now and I had heard that often the date of baptism was often considered the more relevant date too. Is that true?
    I am not sure because I have heard that youneed a date of birth to be baptised. The other thing is that his parents were alive at the time of the baptism and so for them not be aware of his date of birth sounds rather weird to me anyway.
    There are others much earlier writers and scholars that have a date of birth to them, recording dates of birth was a crucial part of the roman church laws and baptisms because it records the number to citizens who adhere to the church through baptism and those who don't are then considered heretics. One is not able to be baptised if one has not a date of birth to them because then they are automatically considered as being born outside the laws of catholicisms and marriage. The time of Shakespeare was in the middle ages and under the roman church and so for him to not have a date of birth he would have been considederedas being born outside a marriage or an oprhan.
    It does not make sense that he does not have a date of birth.
    Last edited by cacian; 04-25-2012 at 02:57 AM.
    it may never try
    but when it does it sigh
    it is just that
    good
    it fly

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