Tag Archives: William Shakespeare

V-E Day, Whitman, and My 15 Minutes

My 15 minutes: during Slovenia’s 1995 V-E Day celebration I read Walt Whitman to a national television audience.

Posted in Shakespeare (William), Whitman (Walt) | Also tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Faced with Bombs, Be Brutus, Not the Mob

To politicians who make irresponsible claims after an incident like the Boston Marathon bombing, Shakespeare has a warning and a model to follow.

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Poetic Excuses for Losing at Tennis

Between the motion and the act of my tennis game falls the shadow. Translation: too much thinking.

Posted in Eliot (T.S.), Robinson (Edward Arlington), Shakespeare (William) | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Pope Retires but Keeps Perks? Hmm

Some of Pope Benedict’s retirement demands sound like King Lear’s.

Posted in Shakespeare (William) | Also tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

How Do You Like Love? All Ways

Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” is the perfect play for Valentine’s Day.

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We Can’t Help But Quote the Bard

Shakespeare is so pervasive in the language that we are often oblivious when we are quoting him.

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Shakespeare, a Lifeline for Those in Prison

A copy of Shakespeare’s works that circulated through apartheid-era prisons shows the Bard providing solace for the prisoners.

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Petraeus–Karenina, Oedipus, or Antony?

The David Petraeus affair–is it 19th century melodrama or high tragedy?

Posted in Hugo (Victor), Shakespeare (William), Sophocles, Tolstoy (Leo) | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cruz Comes Out, the Bard Would Approve

Boxer Orlando Cruz has just come out, bringing to mind Shakespeare’s hyper-masculine gay characters.

Posted in Shakespeare (William) | Also tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Hell Is Empty and All the Devils Are Here

“Sandy” conjures up for me a traumatic childhood reading experience along with a passage from “The Tempest.”

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Hurricanes Make Us All Poor, Infirm, Weak

The onslaught of Hurricane Sandy reminds us of King Lear’s storm experience.

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Mitt Weaves a Tangled Web of Deceit

Mitt Romney’s “tangled web” entraps Obama and recalls Sir Walter Scott.

Posted in Congreve (William), Scott (Sir Walter), Shakespeare (William) | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fantasy, Because Reality Is Unsatisfactory

Fantasy is nothing in and of itself but takes its character in opposition to an unsatisfactory reality.

Posted in Keats (John), Lewis (C. S.), Shakespeare (William), Tennyson (Alfred Lord), Tolkien (J.R.R.) | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Refugee Poem Changed Liberty’s Meaning

The poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty get us to interpret the sculpture differently than the designer intended.

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Midsummer Madness–Orioles Chasing First

In this topsy-turrvy baseball season, as in Midsummer Night’s Dream, all things are possible and the Baltimore Orioles are a game out of first.

Posted in Coleridge (Samuel Taylor), Shakespeare (William) | Also tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Usain Bolt as Shakespeare’s Puck

Like Shakespeare’s Puck, Usain Bolt toys with his opponents.

Posted in Shakespeare (William) | Also tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Lit Sightings in Political Op-Eds

Pundits have recently been turning to literature to comment on the 2012 elections.

Posted in Bierce (Ambrose), Burdick (Eugene), Lederer (William), Rand (Ayn), Shakespeare (William), Trollope (Anthony) | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lit Featured in Olympic Ceremonies

The opening ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics were rich in literary allusions.

Posted in Barrie (J. M.), Blake (William), Shakespeare (William) | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Prince Hal in Today’s School System

David Brooks argues that today’s “nurturing, collaborative” educational system would have kept Shakespeare’s Prince Hal from becoming one of England’s great kings.

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Federer: Floating Butterfly, Stinging Bee

In the immortal words of Muhammad Ali, Roger Federer floated like a butterfly, stung like a bee as he won his 7th Wimbledon title yesterday.

Posted in Ali (Muhammad), Pope (Alexander), Shakespeare (William), Tolkien (J.R.R.) | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Don’t Underestimate Midsummer Madness

The summer solstice and Shakespeare’s famous play appear sentimental to us today. They were not always so.

Posted in Byatt (A.S.), Chaucer (Geoffrey), Kipling (Rudyard), Shakespeare (William), Sir Gawain Poet | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

To Esmé and Alban with Love (No Squalor)

With names from Salinger and Blake, my two new grandchildren have promising destinies.

Posted in Blake (William), Salinger (J. D.), Shakespeare (William), Sterne (Lawrence) | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Shakespeare with a Smart Phone

The plays would have been different if Shakespeare’s characters had had access to social media.

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King Lear’s Sexual Epithets vs. Women

It’s not only Rush Limbaugh and Bill Maher who are use sexual epithets to denigrate women. King Lear does it too.

Posted in Shakespeare (William) | Also tagged , , | 3 Comments

Falstaff and the Stolen Valor Act

Shakespeare’s Falstaff would be in violation of the Stolen Valor act, now being challenged before the Supreme Court.

Posted in Shakespeare (William) | Also tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Rough Winds Do Shake the Buds of March

Crazy weather swings have been messing with our spring flowers, bringing to mind Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18.

Posted in Shakespeare (William) | Also tagged , , | 1 Comment

Romney as Shakespeare’s Dark Lady?!

“I do believe her, though I know she lies,” wrote Shakespeare about the dark lady. It could also be said by some Republican voters about Mitt Romney.

Posted in Shakespeare (William) | Also tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Lit, an RX for Fanaticism?

Israeli author Amos Oz believes that literature can provide “a partial and limited immunity to fanaticism.”

Posted in Gogol (Nikolai), Kafka (Franz), Shakespeare (William) | Also tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Qaddafi Died Like Macbeth, Richard III

As Shakespeare understood with Macbeth and Richard III, narcissistic dictators like Qaddafi are so obsessed with control that they think they can stage manage their own deaths.

Posted in Shakespeare (William) | Also tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Shakespeare Passages for Halloween

Shakespeare has memorable passages about ghosts that are appropriate for Halloween.

Posted in Shakespeare (William) | Also tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Film Is the Fraud, Not Shakespeare

The new film “Anonymous” claims that Shakespeare was a fraud. The only fraud is the film itself.

Posted in Anonymous (film), Shakespeare (William) | Also tagged , , | 14 Comments

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