Shakespeare

Just to get us started...

The following are useful, interesting or simply entertaining links about Shakespeare. Have a look around and see if you can find anything that interests you.

The boring bit(for AS students). Reading around the subject will help you gather material for:

AO3 - Explore connections and comparisons between different literary texts, informed by interpretations of other readers
AO4 - Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received

So firstly, this is an article on Shakespeare's sonnets. Don Paterson, a poet himself, explores a personal response to Shakespeare's poetry, and gives an overview of what we might infer about Shakespeare's life from the sonnets. While there is much we can't know about Shakespeare the man, and there are flaws in Paterson's argument, it's an interesting way of looking at the poems - with lots of speculation on Shakespeare's sexuality! If you want to read the sonnets mentioned in the article, they are available here. Sonnet 18 (Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?) is probably the most famous.

For a weird look at the true face of Shakespeare, check out this reconstruction from his death mask.

To find out about Shakespeare's hip hop credentials, take the Shakespeare or Hip Hop? quiz - unfortunately the related competition is over, but submissions to Miss McLean of Shakespeare raps would be gratefully received...

See if there are any surprises in this list of words and phrases supposedly invented by Shakespeare. Are there any you couldn't live without?

Look through these Royal Shakespeare Company photos to see how Shakespeare performance has changed over the last century.

Although this particular version is no longer playing, Lenny Henry's version of Othello is explored in this article. Watch the video for a clip of Henry in action.

Enter the murky and uncertain art of establishing which plays Shakespeare actually wrote in this article about his 'lost play'. Or start on the endless authorship debate with this musically dubious video.

Thanks for reading - if you find anything else that should be here, please let me know!