Amanda's Shakespeare Blog January 2007 Archive

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun! Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with ... Read More

Ben Jonson anticipated Shakespeare’s dazzling future when he declared, "He was not of an age, but for all time!" in the preface to the First Folio. While most people know ... Read More

As in a theatre, the eyes of men, After a well-graced actor leaves the stage, Are idly bent on him that enters next, Thinking his ... Read More

Here are our most frequently asked questions about Shakespeare. Detailed answers are provided. Related Resources: Top 10 Quotations from Hamlet Top 5 Most Fascinating Contemporaries of Shakespeare Top 5 Shakespearean Villains ... Read More

Not surprisingly, Shakespeare alludes to or includes the text of well over one hundred songs in his works. Music was an integral part of Elizabethan life, as it is today. ... Read More

Shakespeare's influence is summarized nicely by Thomas Carlyle: "This King Shakespeare does he not shine, in crowned sovereignty, over us all, as the noblest, gentlest, yet strongest of rallying-signs; indestructible; ... Read More

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, ... Read More

If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it... As you probably guessed, the famous lines above open Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night. But which ... Read More

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, Witches' mummy, maw and gulf Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark, Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark, Liver of blaspheming Jew, Gall of goat, and slips of yew Silver'd in ... Read More

The revenge plot is established with the Ghost’s utterance, "So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear" (1.5.7). He tells Hamlet that he was poisoned by his brother Claudius ... Read More

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: ... Read More

From a disease standpoint, Shakespeare was living in arguably the worst place and time in history. Shakespeare’s overcrowded, rat infested, sexually promiscuous London, with raw sewage flowing in the Thames, ... Read More

Celebrated for the radiance of its lyric poetry, Romeo and Juliet was tremendously popular from its first performance. The sweet whispers shared by young Tudor lovers throughout the realm were ... Read More

Sonnet 55 is one of Shakespeare's most famous works and a noticeable deviation from other sonnets in which he appears insecure about his relationships and his own self-worth. Everything you ... Read More

Many students dread studying Shakespeare. However, while it is true that Shakespeare's dramas are the most demanding works encountered by high school students (and most college students who do not ... Read More

Othello, the story of a valiant Moorish general who falls prey to the devious schemes of Iago, is packed with memorable lines. Here are the most famous of them all. Related ... Read More

Blow, blow, thou winter wind, Thou art not so unkind As man's ingratitude; Thy tooth is not so keen Because thou art not seen, Although thy breath be rude. (As You Like It, 2.7.181-86) Not surprisingly, Shakespeare ... Read More

Sonnet 29 shows the poet at his most insecure and troubled. He feels unlucky, shamed, and fiercely jealous of those around him. What causes the poet's anguish will remain a ... Read More

Bernard Levin skillfully summarizes Shakespeare's impact in the following passage from The Story of English: "If you cannot understand my argument, and declare "It's Greek to me", you are quoting ... Read More