Friday, April 23, 2021

But, Lo, It Is The Day Of Our Man, Shakespeare

Today is celebrated as Shakespeare Day in many countries. Why April 23? Because it's the recorded day of his baptism and his death, some 52 years later in 1616. Shakespeare is one of those writers you either get or you don't. I happen to like his plays and since I skim when I read a lot of the time, I find Shakespeare is easier to comprehend this way. If you read each word, you'll get bogged down, so I highly suggest just trying to read most of it and skip some of it when it doesn't make sense.

get this cute poster here

As an English major in college, I read me some Shakespeare. And I even performed a scene from As You Like It in class with a partner. This was in the 80s when we didn't exactly have instant access to everything. We didn't even have all that many VCRs. I had never seen Shakespeare performed, so I had to go to the listening library, get some honking headphones and listen to an audio tape of the scene I was performing to get the cadence down. It went pretty well and I got an A...just in case you were wondering. 😀

Shakespeare is credited with coining many words and phrases that we still use today, including bandit, unaware, critic and swagger—along with green-eyed monster and in a pickle. If you look here, you can find a lot of great ways Shakespeare had his characters insult each other. From As You Like It, you'll find, "I desire that we be better strangers." Almost doesn't sound like an insult, does it?

If you like the Bard, you can pick up these fun products and more here.






I've a fairy card to share today, in honor of A Midsummer Night's Dream and the fairy realm. I used Bristol paper and Distress Oxide Inks to create the background and the oval die cut is the Floral Border from Hero Arts. The mini fairies are dies from Poppy Stamps. The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions. I added Stickles to the wings, but the photo doesn't show it. 


I'll leave you with a few of my favorite Shakespeare quotes. "Though she be but little, she is fierce." "Something wicked this way comes." "If music be the food of love, play on." And from A Midsummer Night's Dream, "Lord, what fools these mortals be."

Happy Friday to thee!
Chark







2 comments:

  1. Fun post! We lived in Ashland, Oregon when I was 5 yrs old & my mom was the wicked queen in Cymbeline at the Shakespearean Festival--& our dobby was in another play that year! And when I visited England I went to Stratford Upon Avon & saw a play at the theatre! I love this quote by Portia in The Merchant of Venice: "How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world." Beautiful background & fun card!

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