Happy 449th
Birthday, William Shakespeare!!!!
William Shakespeare: 23 April 1564-23 April 1616
To mark William Shakespeare's
449th birthday today, (he was baptized on April 26, 1564, and
children at that time were usually baptized three days after birth) and the 397th
anniversary of his death, much celebration is going on in the United States as
well as in Stratford-upon-Avon.
When I was in a Shakespeare
class in high school (yes, we had an entire semester English elective on Shakespeare available...and it was a very popular class!!), we had a HUGE birthday party for Shakespeare with British
food and drink, rather like a high tea. A month beforehand, we had each drawn
the name of a fellow student for which we were to make a handmade gift. I
remember hemming handkerchiefs in pink embroidery thread with the initials
“M.A.” for my recipient, and I still have the floral wreath head-dress strung with ribbons down the back hanging on my bedroom wall…although I don't
remember which young man made it for me (or more likely, his mother made it on
his behalf, LOL).
So how is the 449th birthday of the Bard being
celebrated?
Celebrations in Shakespeare’s
birthplace: Stratford-upon-Avon:
So let’s celebrate Shakespeare's birthday today in our
homeschools. Here are some ideas:
·
Have a Talk Like Shakespeare Day (or even just an hour, if that’s all you can handle)
·
Perhaps gather
around the table with scones and jam and some Earl Grey tea and read some of
Shakespeare’s sonnets aloud (you can find Shakespeare sonnet apps for your
smart phone).
·
Read some of
Shakespeare’s famous monologues aloud dramatically, perhaps even in costume.
Here’s a site with a listing of some of the best single-person speeches, one
list for men and one for women HERE. Try performing them for family members and/or
friends or at a co-op!
·
Perform a
Shakespeare scene as a puppet show or act out a scene in costume; either
memorize parts or make copies of the scene for all the actors. Here are some scenesand scripts for kids from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.:
·
Watch your
favorite Shakespeare play on film (mine is Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado AboutNothing). Check your local library
or Netflix for some excellent titles, and the International Movie DataBase includes some helpful parents guides with advisory content for you along with
ratings and information on most film versions.
·
For older kids,
check out Michael Woods’ in-depth documentary In Search of Shakespeare which first aired on PBS in 2004. Both the DVD and the companion book should be
readily available through most public libraries.
·
Better yet, see a
live Shakespeare play as soon as possible. Check out college/university
performances near you as they’re usually much less expensive than professional
productions.
How
are you planning to celebrate???
So,
Happy 449th Birthday, William Shakespeare!!
“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.”
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.”
~Sonnet 18
by William Shakespeare
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