It has been 460 years since the birth of Shakespeare, but his words still live on. I particularly like that line from Two Gentlemen from Verona,
“Write till your ink be dry and with your tears moist it again, and frame some feeling line that may discover such integrity.”
They’re surely talking about keeping up their correspondence, right? 😉
I was first introduced to Shakespeare by Mrs. Hultgren, my high school English teacher. She loved the Bard and tried to inspire her somewhat reluctant students with his greatness. We memorized monologues, read whole plays aloud in class and took turns acting out our favorite death scenes. “Et tu, Brute?” 😵
At first I struggled with the language. What is this guy taking about?!? But the more I read the easier it became. I soon got swept up in the stories which were amazing… both witty and profound. In the end it’s the words that do it for me. Shakespeare invented so many phrases, clever quips and salty insults. A lot of his lingo is still in use today. Here is just a sampling of what I discovered with the help of those interwebs…
- as luck would have it
- bated breath
- the be-all and the end-all
- break the ice
- brave new world
- cold comfort
- dead as a doornail
- the dogs of war
- faint-hearted
- for goodness sake
- foregone conclusion
- good riddance
- kill with kindness
- laughing stock
- one fell swoop
- wear my heart upon my sleeve
- wild-goose chase
“To be a well-favoured man is the gift of fortune; but to write and read comes by nature.” (Much Ado About Nothing)
Hie thee, good folk, and let thy missives fly with all haste!
XOXO,
Mrs. Murphy
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