AN ENGLISH GENIUS

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AN ENGLISH GENIUS.

The second half of the 16th century is known as the Elizabethan period. It was a very importnat time for English literature. Many people liked to go to the theatre which was a new form of entertainment.William Shakespeare was the most succesful playwright but he just the best among many other writers Shakespeare is one of England's most famous men. He wrote 37 plays and many poems including the famous Sonnets. His plays include A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet which takes place in Verona in Italy, Hamlet and Macbeth In all his works the people are very real and have problems and hopes that we still recognise and have today.

Shakespeare's influence on the English language is immense. Only the Bible has more.He created 1700 new words most of which we still use every day. Most people do not know the words were made up by one playwright 400 years ago - Admirable, hostile, lonely, overblown, barefaced. He also created many phrases that are part of the English language, they have become idioms - "In a pickle" "It's Greek to me" "What's done is done" "Fair play" "Break the ice" Click on the button to find more idioms and phrases and match them to the times you could use them.

This speech is from Hamlet. Hamlet is a prince whose father has been murdered by his brother, Hamlet's uncle. This uncle has just married Hamlet's mother.The language is English of 400 years ago but listen and see if you cannot answer these questions. How does Hamlet feel about what has happened? Angry? Sad? Confused? Does Hamlet know what to do? Can you guess what he thinks he should do and what happens next?

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Here is a simplified modern version of Hamlets famous soliliquy

Use this version to answer these questions:What is Hamlet asking himself Does he think death will solve his problems? Why is he afraid of dying? By the end of the speech has he made a decision?

To be or not to be: that is the question. What must I do? Shall I live or die?Do I have the strength to go on fighting - to overcome the problems that I face?If I kill my uncle my own death will follow his. Then why not kill myself and make an end? If I died now, then I would sleep forever, my troubles finished by the sleep of death. But when we sleep, we dream. How terrible those dreams in death might be! The fears of death are greater than the fears of life we know. So fear of life and death disturb my thinking. I do not know what to do. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.

SONNET XVIII (18) 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 dimm'd;And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;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 * an old fashioned way of saying 'you'. Only used to people you knew very well and never to a person who was above you in status.

SONNET XVIII (18) 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 dimm'd;And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;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 * an old fashioned way of saying 'you'. Only used to people you knew very well and never to a person who was above you in status.