Well I'm short if not little....

 

I like her already!

Brushing Up Our Shakespeare – Part II

We're brushing up our Shakespeare again.  This time we're looking at his sonnets – he did 154 of them.  Each one is a 14 line poem.

Shall I Compare Thee to A Summer's Day –from Sonnet No 18.

And these are some lines dealing with memory from Sonnet 30

Sonnet 60 – deals with our lives not being infinite

To see the whole text of each of these Sonnets, I have included these links:

Sonnet 18

Sonnet 30

Sonnet 60

Brushing Up Our Shakespeare – Part I

I was watching a quiz show (The Chase) and there was a question about which Shakespeare play had some quoted lines.  And not only did I not know it, I realise that it is so long since I have even thought about Shakespeare.

The title of this post is derived from the Cole Porter song – Brush Up Your Shakespeare.  It is from his musical – Kiss Me Kate – which was based on The Taming of the Shrew.

So I thought we could all brush up a little bit together.  I have chosen 6 of the plays that I know a bit about and have set out for each one – the first lines and another famous quote.

I hope you enjoy!

I selected these plays with the help of my copy of his collected works – won as a high school prize in 1970 for coming second!

Romeo and Juliet - First lines –

Two households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

Hamlet - First lines – are very boring so I won't bother you with them.  Just some chit chat between guards on the catle walls of Elsinore.

Macbeth - First lines – by the 3 Witches

When shall we three meet again?

In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

When the hurlyburly's done,

When the battle's lost and won.

The Merchant of Venice - First lines

In sooth, I know not why I am so sad.

King Lear  - First lines

Another boring lot of lines

Othello - - First lines

Ditto

What a guy! Did you spot the mistake?

Sonnet 18 - Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Shakespeare

There are so many people much more qualified than me to talk about the Bard – Shakespeare!  So rather than try, I am just going to give you a few of my favourite lines!  Are these your favourites, too?

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Hamlet

To thine own self be true

- Hamlet, Shakespeare