The Bard of Avon

[Count Comfect]

Oooh, completely missed Bill Day? NOOO!

My favorite sonnet has to be
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun.
Cherries are far more red than her lips' red.
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun.
If hair be wires, black wires grow from her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath which from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak: yet well I know,
That music hath a far more pleasing sound.
I grant I never saw a goddess go:
My mistress, when she walks, walks on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as fair
As any she belied by false compare.

And Shakespeare is in my opinion the greatest playwright ever for reading or performing. And I've done a lot of both
On the other hand, his sonnets, as a whole, are neither too prolific (154 sonnets contain fewer lines than a play!) nor too good, frankly, with a few exceptions.
On the other hand (there is no other hand!), he didn't invent "truly human" characterization as some critics would have it. Bardolotry in its higher forms is disturbing.

[Tanoliel]

I like some of his sonnets lots and some others okay but I don't think he was the most brilliant sonnetist ever. County, you're inching up there. Geez. Or at least the most prolific...

Mercutio--
I am a hopeless romantic, so I persist in believing that Shakespeare actually wrote Shakespeare. My friend just got converted to an Oxfordian (Edward de Vere, that is--CC, that would be Claire)...but I will not be.
I think he wrote things in collaboration, though...I wouldn't be suprised by that at all. Especially some of his earlier works--with Marlowe, or de Vere or somebody. Not Bacon. I don't like Bacon. But I do think it was one person, more or less, throughout (and not a bunch of people using his name as some people would have it)--if you read through all the plays one can see a growth and change as a writer that I think shows one personality through the whole thing.

There....I've rambled enough. Shakespeare for Shakespeare! *waves a flag*

[Mercutio]

Originally posted by Tanoliel
Mercutio--
I am a hopeless romantic, so I persist in believing that Shakespeare actually wrote Shakespeare. My friend just got converted to an Oxfordian (Edward de Vere, that is--CC, that would be Claire)...but I will not be.
I think he wrote things in collaboration, though...I wouldn't be suprised by that at all. Especially some of his earlier works--with Marlowe, or de Vere or somebody. Not Bacon. I don't like Bacon. But I do think it was one person, more or less, throughout (and not a bunch of people using his name as some people would have it)--if you read through all the plays one can see a growth and change as a writer that I think shows one personality through the whole thing.

Interesting...I want to believe it was really him, but I'd have to study his writings a lot more to really decide my opinion.

[Count Comfect]

Don't roll your eyes at me Tano! I have a right to write sonnets if I want!
Claire is an Oxfordian? *prepares mob with pitchforks and torches* Must deal with this.
I have read pretty much all of Shakespeare's plays in whole or in part, plus studied things like line distributions in the plays and read many of his contemporaries. And one man wrote them, who isn't any of the contemporaries. There are distinct trends in the arc of the plays, and the style is consistent (and VASTLY different from said contemporaries). Plus, all of the alternate theories have vast holes (which I won't point out here unless asked specifically case by case).
Oh, and there are documents that work to show that Shakespeare himself actually existed and did what he is supposed to. And there is no reason to believe otherwise.

Ah, good to get that out of my system for a bit.

Shakespeare for the Shakespearians!

[Tanoliel]

Let's start a club, Comfect. For Shakespeare.

And for all you unbelievers out there... My mum reminded me of something I had forgotten, which was this: An article from Science News about mathematical and statistical ways of determining authorship.

Just another vote for my side over here...

And Comfect, don't pitchfork Claire...It could be worse. She could be a Militant Baconian.

[Count Comfect]

Militant Baconians are staked. Oxfordians are pitchforked and burnt. There's a difference!
And that article is interesting, but I'd have to see the actual stylometric evidence before using it as evidence for any point of view whatsoever.

[Count Comfect]

Well, looks like I committed threadicide for the moment. Thought I'd point out that on my English Literature test on Thursday they had us interpret Sonnet XC! Whee!

[Tanoliel]

hey. i wrote some elizabethan sonnets. *pokes cc* i'm catching up.... (Actually i'm nowhere close, but poking you is fun. i wrote them for a play.)

[Mercutio]

I saw "As You Like It" last night at the Delaware Shakepeare Festival (this is only their second year). It was a marvelous performance and only $7. And that's also one of my favorite Shakespeare plays (I think).

Someone(s) has mentioned Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb. We have this book (as well as the complete works of Shakespeare). Its extremely helpful in instances such as: I'm going to see a play. I wonder what the plot is? I'd like to read a nice short summary of it before I get there. Hmm...this looks good. Etc. It by no means replaces the real stuff. Especially since each "tale" is only 10-15 pages long.

[sun-star]

I saw "As You Like It" in Stratford last year and I agree, it's one of my favourite Shakespeare plays too. I'm hoping to go and see "Much Ado About Nothing", another of the better comedies IMO, in the grounds of Canterbury Cathedral soon - if I can convince anyone to go with me...

I read Tales from Shakespeare when I was too young for the real plays, but I can't say they were exactly gripping. Without Shakespeare's language almost all the enjoyment is gone for me - I'm not one for plot, really. I do have a vivid memory of the one about The Winter's Tale though, so that must have been pretty good

[Fat middle]

All the world is a stage and all the men a women merely players...

I love As you Like it but I have never had a chance to see a performance

[Mercutio]

I love that soliloquy (have actually seen it performed previously):

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

[Willow Oran]

JUst did a performance of 'As You Like It.' Fun, Kayla makes a good sheep, and playing Oliver is fun.