Blogging Shakespeare

In trying to conquer time, the poet first imagines time’s devastating effects. The ‘love’ of this sonnet (who is definitely male) will have his blood drained, be covered in wrinkles, lose all of his beauty, and will die. But ‘confounding age’s cruel knife’ (like Time’s scythe) will never be able to cut away the memory […]

One of the recurring themes in Shakespeare’s Sonnets is the power of his verse to help the beloved triumph against time. Here he conjures a surreal image of the beloved, pacing forth like a resurrected being among the ruins and in the face of death. Poetry itself enables this and will go on making the […]

In Sonnet 50, Shakespeare’s unhappiness at being separated from his friend is compared to the suffering of the spurred horse that is carrying him ever further away. Surely this sonnet provides at least one example of Shakespeare writing from personal rather than invented experience. It reminds me a little of Robert Frost’s ‘Stopping by Woods […]

Today’s sonnet is about the difficulty of love, ‘a separable spite’ that steals ‘sweet hours from love’s delight’. The lovers – and the relationship between the poet and the addressee real or imagined seems pretty clear here – are experiencing a difficulty comparable to Romeo and Juliet: they feel ‘undivided’ yet separated by ‘public’ demands. […]

Sonnet 26 is distinctive because it is addressed to the ‘Lord of my love’ to whom the poet feels subordinate. The sonnet is presented as a ‘written embassage’ and has the quality and tone of being like a letter in verse (reminiscent perhaps of Helen’s letter to the Countess in All’s Well That End’s Well […]

A bright particular star plays an important part in the Christmas story. It leads the Magi to Bethlehem where they find ‘the King of Jews’. Sonnet 14 seemed like a good choice for Advent. But here the poet turns away from astronomy and astrology and instead focusses on the beloved’s eyes (again it is not […]

If you could ask Shakespeare one thing, what would it be? This post was written by post-graduate students on the ‘Shakespeare and Creativity’ course at The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham: ‘When it comes to Shakespeare, there will always be more questions than answers. Was Shakespeare a product of his age or ‘for all time’, […]

Tuesday 19 November saw an extraordinary gathering. When I arrived, there was already a long queue outside the main gates of Buckingham Palace. Police were carefully checking passports and driving licenses. But once we were in, it was like walking into an architectural expression of grace – open courtyards, great staircases, and as many magnificent […]

On Saturday 30 November, The British Shakespeare Association pays tribute to two excellent and contrasting Shakespeare scholars by making them Honorary Fellows: Professors Terence Hawkes and Stanley Wells. There will be a special gathering here at The Shakespeare Centre, Henley Street from 10.00am during which a series of short talks and reflections on both Terry’s […]