28 aprel literature

The drama that started as religious drama with it is earlier period as being religious period where
the types of drama characteristic of that period being miracle place and mistory place which is
the same thing and then the next period of the history of drama which we know as the moral
period and was morality place, moralities characteristic of that next period of early drama and
what we see in the elizabeth period . we see the next and highest period in the history of the
development of the drama which we call elizabeth period the artistic period. We have the earliest
religious period then we have the moral period and we finally got the artistic period which
brings with it some of the developed most artistic most accomplished types of drama that we
know today. That was definitely one of the highlights of this period that we are looking at now
the elizabeth age. If we talk about the elizabeth age now the elizabeth artistic of drama. who
were among the first regular playwrites of this period?- kid marlow,grin,peel,nash .perhaps
thomas and christopher marlow are going to be and one more John Lily are going to be most
noticable for us in terms of what we have discuseed . which of these was one of the most
influential of these Shakespeare’s predecessors?- Christopher Marlow. When we talk about John
Lily what do we associate with the name of this particular author? His euphemistic style.
Euphemism is what is usually associated with John Lily who popularized that kind of style and
what was this style noted for?- euphemism is a style. Euphemism- it is special technique which
John developed and consist of descrbing things or speaking about things in a very
complex,complicated way. They express their source very sophisticated way. It starts as literary
style. His style ,developed that and popularized that style which is very ornameted elaborate
way of talking even about regular things and so it became so popular that even the young ladies
of the higher layers of society adopted it or learn it in order to be able to communicate in
euphemism that was very fashionable style of the period. When we talk about very
ornamented ,very decorated , elaborate style of expression. When we talk about Thomas drama
how could we describe thomas’ drama?- he is author of the spanish tragedy. Very influential and
very popular. When we talk about the spanish tragedy and great popularity why do you think it
is popular?- so spanish tragedy was so popular because there was lots of violen sonette lots of
those melodramatic, very effective very striking scenes there was revenge. That was very
popular basically with the audiences. Shakespeare use ,Marlowe use in his inspiration so it was
very influential kind of very popular to it was also translate into of other languages. What are
the three note were these thing about elizabeth play writes?, common things for elizabeht play
writes?- the first is thing that these author not only the authors, but they are also actors they were
professionals of the stage and they know the stage audiences and they know what works belong
stage and when they write any play the main concerns word whether the play convenient for
actors to act or whether it will be plays the audiences. The second factor is that they first began
like training something they revised old plays finally became independent writers they write
their own. Third factor is they plays are like each other they sometimes works on the same
subject and we can see lots of same characters and names this also works(even shakespeare). we
see how the starts actors then they turn to writing the acting profession allows them to become
better writers because they understand the play from the point of view of an actor and also from
point of view of view of the members of the audience and so they know what works for both the
stage and viewers and the audiences that is one. The second feature is - they start the training is
actors then they go proceed to review ,rework old place existing place and finally transition into
independent writing and the third feature is that they often work together on whether revising
the existing stories of creating new ones and all of them did that and shakespeare also did that so
they not only worked independently but they also worked in group sometimes in twos or thress
and so that was also a common practice that time. Which of these shakespearen dramatists is
sometimes compared to shakespeare?- it is marlowe. What is characteristic of marlowe’s plays?-
when we talk about spanish tragedy at the same time we can see the revenge place in the
marlowe as shakespeare’s hamlet and his drama called as the marlowian or marlowist dramast .
basically he lent his name to that full type of drama and it is describes one man type of tragedy.
The first drama called as the tamburlaine it is the story of the tamburlaine who was originally
one of the shepherd and after he become the chief then he rises in a revolt and wins over the
king . it was a persian king . he was so successful as mutually leader but actually this success
finally possesed his mind. It means that it is kind of like it blinds him this success blinds him.
And his power became obsession of his life like eventually takes over his personal he becomes
very real person such a powerful leader,warrior not only he can win over the regular rulers he
can also challenge the guards.- It is example. But basically that is all of his marlow’s plays like
so this character and his great passion . his great passion that eventually takes over and destroys
this character. Among the places that proceed shakespeare’s work were so called chronicle
place. What were chronicle places?- it is based on the trolls and actually we see the trolls turns
the poetic after the medical periods. The chronicle place as the name of this type of play. What
kind of place?- historical place. Record of history . these are historical place and they describe
either a real historical hero or maybe a legendary hero or historical events or legendary events.
Why were they so popular in the elizabeth age?- when we described elizabeth period the period
itself the atmosphere of that time we talked about people’s interest in their own history because
they felt proud of their country, they felt proud of their queen, they felt proud of their history
that is sense of national pride and interest in their own history. That contributed to that interest to
the chronicle place were they could see the events from their real history and legendary
history ,real characters and legendary characters appearing on stage for them. That was
something that said into the general national spirit of the people of that time and that was
contributed to such an interest in this type of place. What was the domestic drama?- domestic
means related to home,referring to home .family and homelife. Scenes form homelife,scenes
form familylife. What type of audience they appeal to most sophisticated or less sophisticated
type of audience?-less sophisticated because they were sometimes it is not to intellectual not to
refined in terms of humor, language, expression. Perhaps the was less educated people, simply
kind of people who enjoyed watching seen from family life and which did not require much of
intellectual preparation who were happy audiences that were happy with simply kind of humor
sometimes cruder kind of humor and you know they like those kinds of play. How was court
comedy different from the domestic comedy?- court meaning- royal court is going to be oriented
towards what kind of audience?-so witty dialogu play on words are not so much about the action
but more about the refined expression so people who would appreciate that kind of play tough to
understand all the subleties of the language really well. So these woul be the more educated
audiences so like you said the audiences of the domestic dramas and of court place would be
difference in their social status. Simply ones preferring domestic and more refined ones
preffering court comedy which is based not so much on action but on the smarts intelligence
elaborate dialogue. What types of the drama were the most artistic?- romantic comedy and
tragedy are most artistic because they were a happy combination of both interesting story and
the beatiful expression and it strong feeling all of which would appeal to the audiences and create
general heightened artistic effects. What were the classical plays based on?- classical based on
the ancient classics. Because when we talk about classicism classics we talk about ancient greek
and roman authors who created some of the best drama of their time. Classical plays popular in
the elizabeth period were based on original classic are play classics of ancient authors. Another
type of play that we see in the elizabeth period melodrama. Melodrama was a popular kind of
theater are play. Melodrama success was dependent on what?- dependent on the characters not
on the plots so much. But some impressive variety events. It is based on those very impressive
powerful and strong episodes,events serious of events. Impressive and expressive scenes that
would produce some kind of striking effect on the audiences. That was basically melodrama
built around a very striking scene. What do you think the tragedy of blod mean?- it was more or
less melodramatic.as follows the name of these type of play there is gonna be a lot of blood and
there is gonna be violence there is gonna be revenge so and that was agin popular very popular
type of play and the spanish tragedy is actually that kind of play and later in hamlet we see the
same kind of play and some others. So that motives of revenge are also very strong and very
popular during his period in the theater.
This second period of elizabeth drama as you remember was basically dominated by the
university with those educated professionel gorup of literary mand and of then marlowe of
course was the biggest one. And around him those minor authors were Lily,Nash and others.
Lily is the author of eumphesims who wrote a number of place and style is eumphesims is
characterized by exaggeration very ornamented elaborrate complicated style of expression. And
then Thomas who achieves great popularity with his spanish tragedy translated into european
languages. Introduces this element of blood reveng blood and thunder into drama and it turns
out to be one of the most apealing features atractive features of the drama of this period and his
violent it is extravagant but it also marks the departure from monotonus kind of boring type of
earliest theater and introduces this element of interest. The greates of this early of shakespeare’s
prodcessors is christopher marlowe. Who produces is marlowen play,marlowen drama built
around the passion of the central character which turns ouf to be to big for him and basically
leads to him to his ruin , his demise but marlowe interested also in his use of blanche words
which shakespeare also develops and in his poetics style. Marlowe using his beautiful poetry in
his place and also kind of taking that the whole subject matter of drama a higher level. Because
he introduces this heroes who were powerful and strong personalities. And they were eventually
taken over by their passion but if you think about it they basically reflected that whole spirit of
the renaissance period the period of endless desire for adventure,exploration,discovery. This
marlowen character also reflected these characterictics of this endless desire of power or whales
or knowledge. He basically gave life to these characters and introduced passion on the stage. So
obviously the greatest of all these elizabeht dramatist was shakespeare and they say that in the
hands of shakespeare the romantic drama reached it is highes point it is peak. But truly we do not
know much about shakespeare’s life. He remains a bit of mystereious figure even today.
Shakespeare as somebody else writing under that penny name and they sometimes even talk
about a group of people writing under the pen name of shakespeare and they gave some
interesting information or facts to support that kind of over hypotheses but we are gonna be
looking at shakespeare if he were one man the two men the man that we know as william
shakespeare. The gene is that we know as the greatest dramatist of the elizabeth romance and
so what we know about him still is a kind of interesting because a lot of plenty of blank spots
about shakespeare ,shakespeare’s biography and shakespeare’s life. Basically he was a country
boy very young man a country boy with not you know super great education or anything like
that . he goes to london looking for a job and who eventually reaches the greatest heights in
dramatic literature so that is kind of a bit mystery how somebody from the province from the
country without some any outstanding education achieves such heights and becomes such an
accomplished master of literature as shakespeare actually becomes. So this person was definitely
had he is very imagine and very creative mind and he would often take some older stories
familiar stories but he would put some new life into these older stories and added the deepest
thought the feelings to these stories making them his own. So he was definitely very talented
person. But he perhaps got proper training first as an actor then as reviser of old place and finally
as an independent dramatist so he follow the same career pass as the other dramatist of the
elizabeth periods are did starting as an actor learning about the stage,learning about the people,
learning about the audiences, he got in contact with about the world in general. Then moving to
revising all the existing place and finally becoming a full blown author himself. He worked with
other dramatists and learned from them he learned to the secret of their profession from them.
He was a good student he was a fast learner, he was a great observer of life and people and
characters . everybody that he came in contact with. His drama is the result of his natural genius
his natural talent but also his hardwork and his observational skills. Shakespeare not only wrote
drama he also wrote poems and sonnets. His work is generally divided into four periods- 1. the
first period is called early experiments . it is the periof of early experiments were shakespeare is
still a student he still learner himself. And so the work that he produces during this first period
the early experimental work the work that consist of those revision of old place and some of his
comedies. He is still learning and he is still learning to be author. So this is perhaps not his most
accomplished work. 2 the second period is called the period of development. This is the period
where he basically matures, he grows up. He gets more sophistication. He writes his great
comedies hist chronicle place . this period shows great development as a thinker and also writer
with the polished technique . this period shows his maturity of his mind and art. Then the third
period is the period whicih is associated with sadness. It is a dark period in shakespeare’s life
and we do not know exacly why it could be for personal reasons maybe it was a loss of friend
or whatever is something again it is not exactly known what caused that kind of period of
sadnedd perhaps depression. So it is dark period in shakespeare’s life. A period of sadness and it
is also the period where he creates his greatest tragedies. This is basically his highest period
his peak period and it is characterized by the highest development of his thought and
expression. But he is more concerned with the darked side of human experience of human life.
And the destructive things, destructive passions even in his comedies that belong to this period
his tone is a bit grave and there is a greater focus on evil. This is the period when he creates his
julius caser,hamlets,othello,king lear and some others. It is the saddest the period of darkness .
but it is also the highest period of his drama . and the final fourth period called the period of
later exprementation. First period called the period of early exprementation. To this period
fourth period belong some of the later comedis and drama. Shakespeare is now out of his period
of depression and sadness and it seems like this darkness that surrounded him is finally gone and
so his mood is chaned finally. It seems like this it that period of peace and quiet ,period of calm.
But the tragic passions of the previous period still kind of appear in this last period. But is it not
as final. It is basically one over by good by goodness. This is also a period where we see a
gradual decline in the power of shakespeare’s expression and they say that place written during
this period such as the tempest and the winter’s tale were written together with some other
dramatist. Shakespeare decided to finish his career as a playwrite and moved back to his native
town of stratford avon.leaves lonndon and returns to his family home and lived there till he dies.
That is the strange unusual life of shakespeare. The live that caused him to leave his family his
wife and children to move to london in search of a different life and career and to ries all the way
up to the heights of drammatic achievemtn only to finish it all as abruptly as he started to leave
london again for a last time and to return back from way he started. So basically the place of
shakespeare are very varied there are plenty of everything in them . there are contradictory
thoughts in them . there are all kinds of different characters from very intellectual wants to
simple ones. They are think that are basically very deep very profound and they are think that are
naughty or sometimes almost indecent. There is a lot everything in his place . that shows his
versatility his the many aspects that live together in one person it is the versatility of somebody
who is a genius. Because his style and this versatility of the highest order . so he is not just a
great dramatis but he is also great poet and perhaps one of the greatest not just of his time one
the greatest of all times. And his sonnets also have all that passion and sensitivity to beauty in
them and show some of that poetic perfection excellence in the his place are romantic and
personal lyrical at the same time. Although shakespeare belong to the elizabeth age and
gecoben age . because he wrote both during the reign of queen elizabeht and also james the
first. We call him and elizabeth author because the spirit of the elizabeth age is also the spirit of
shakespeare. But if we think about universality of him belongs to not just the elizabeth period
basically he belongs to all times. No matter how much time passes between shakespeare and
later reader. He still remains interesting , he still remains popular, he still remains valuable all
the students of literature and also for those reader for just enjoy good reading. That s why we
value shakespeare so much.

Literature- 29 April
We are today we are going over the state of drama that is we find during this period that we're
looking at which period in the history of literature. If we look at the history of English literature,
how can we name that period were now? That's Elizabeth period. Remember the rule of Queen
Elizabeth the first, it is also called the Age of Elizabeth. And if you remember what we said
earlier about Elizabethan age, it's one of the greatest periods in the history of English literature
which got all of its energy, of all of its positive energy, its stimulus towards development from
the Renaissance thought and from the Reformation of the Church, the geographical exploration
that were happening, the period that was marked by the high National spirit, patriotic religious
tolerance, relative peace, social satisfaction, content, intellectual progress, and general
enthusiasm. And this such an age finds its best expression in the drama. And the most significant
characteristic of the Elizabethan period in literature is this wonderful development of the drama
which finds its highest point in Shakespeare. And we remember that this age also produce some
excellent pros work, but it's still mostly an age of poetry, and the poetry of the spirit is also great.
It's also quite remarkable with its old variety, its useful feeling, its romantic feeling and the both
the poetry and the drama are under the Italian influence or are inspired by the Italian influence,
which was dominant in English literature from the time of the Chaucer time to the restoration
period, which the period comes after Elizabeth, after King James, and so on. The literature of this
age is often called the literature of the Renaissance, but we know that the Renaissance itself
started much earlier and for a while had actually a little effect on literary development. But
during the reign of Queen Elizabeth the first, and then after her that, James King, James the first.
In the late sixteenth and early seventh century, a London centered culture growth, that culture
that was both popular culture and quartly at the same time that produces that drama and great
poetry. And it is playwrights such as Kyd, Lyly, Marlo, and the others brought the English drama
to such heights where Shakespeare began to experiment on it. And the English drama as it
developed from its earliest stage, its earliest period- If you remember, guys, the miracle plays,
mystery plays. It has actually an interesting history. It began with the theater itself. It began with
the authors for example, the author of the first English comedy, Ralph Roister Doister, the person
named Nicholas Udall. He was actually not just an author, but he was also a school master. And
he translated Latin plays for the boys of the school to act, to perform, and people like him were
guided by the classic ideal. Because all these strong classical influences since the time of the
renaissance, and then the Church Masters continue this tradition of the article staging and
performances, and in the churches, in the chapels, they formed theatrical companies where the
theatrical plays were acted by the members of the Church and the actress were actually the
Church workers. And the boys who sang in the Church choir, the stage some of the famous
theatrical performances and even made a great competition to regular theaters. The beginnings of
the theater as performances such as masks, interludes, and what kind of dramatic performances
which would stage classical nets and also scenes from the English country life or Germanization
of literary works such as, for example, Chaucer's stories. And finally, the playwrights such as
Kyd, Nash, Lyly, Marlo brought English drama to professional height, and each of these
playwrights added or stressed some essential element in the drama which later we see appearing
also in the works of Shakespeare. So, for example, if we take some of this playwright, so the
word playwright or the word dramatist is going to be basically used interchangeably. A
playwright person who writes plays for the theater, a dramatist person who writes drama for the
theater. So playwright or the earlier dramatist people who prepare the arrival of Shakespeare. We
can say these people are Shakespeare's predecessors who comes before the Shakespeare.
Shakespeare's predecessors were the people that we already named, such as Kyd, Nash, Lyly,
Marlo.
And John Lyly is one of them, he's now mostly known as the one who developed a specific
literary style that is called euphuism. Euphuism, he is one of the most influential of these early
dramatists. When I say early dramatists, we are now talking about the third stage in the
development of English drama. We have looked with you at the religious period, the earliest the
period in the development of drama. And we remember the miracle, mystery plays. We looked at
the moral period with mortality plays, the allegories such as every man, for example. And now
we're looking at the next and third-highest artistic periods in the development of drama that
culminates with Shakespeare reaches its highest point. Shakespeare that reaches its highest point
with Shakespeare. But these people that we are talking about now are the ones who prepared the
Shakespearian period in drama. And so John Lyly is one of these people who has developed his
own style, called euphuism. The name euphuism comes from the special technique that John
Lyly developed, which consisted in a manner of describing things or speaking about things in
such a way that is very complex, very complicated, very much ornamental, and basically very
sophisticated, as opposed to simple and clear. So they would that particular style, of very
complex expression, very much complex use of the language structures or sentence structures,
and vocabulary and so on to produce the effect of something very complex, very much elaborate
and not so easy to understand perhaps. That kind of expression becomes very popular during this
period to the point that even young ladies proud themselves in being able to develop the skill of
talking in euphuism. So they developed this style of talking about simple things or whatever
things they're talking about in a very elaborate, complicated, elaborate way of expression. Using
this euphuistic expression, this very sophisticated way of saying even simple things. So that
becomes very fashionable, it becomes the sign of a good style and so this style is now called
euphuism. And so it was influential on the early dramatists. And his court comedies are
remarkable for their smart, witty dialogue and being the first plays that definitely aimed at
artistic effect, artistic finish. So John Lyly and his euphemistic style was one of the early
influences that actually cared about the dramatic unity and the artistic finish of his plays. And so
we remember that the style of euphuism that John Lyly developed, even as influential as to
affect the fashionable way of speaking of that time.
Another author Thomas Kyd with his famous play, Spanish Tragedy, produces the drama or
melodrama of passion. And it was later copied by Marlowe Christopher and William
Shakespeare. That was the most popular actually of these early Elizabethan plays. And it went
over several revisions and becomes one of the most influential melodramatic performances of his
time.
And also there's Robert Greene, he also played an important part in the development of the a
romantic comedy. And so he stage some of the excellent scenes of English Country life and so
on.
Now, if we take a look at the early dramatists belonging to the this third period in the
development of drama, which we now call the artistic period of drama, which had an effect on
Shakespeare's career. We notice certain regularities: first of all, we can see that these men, this
dramatists were not only writers, not only authors and dramatis, they were also actors. They are
usually actors. They are usually actors, So they were the professionals of the stage. They knew
the stage, they knew the audiences. So they knew what works well on stage. They knew what
worked well for the audiences. And so in their writings, they remembered not only the actor's
part, but also what the audience is loved. And the audience is loved a good story and a good
visual, a good spectacle. And so when they created their plays, one of the main concerns were
whether the play will be convenient for the actors to play, to act, or and whether it will please the
audiences. So they're being actors, as long as playwrights actually worked to the benefit because
they knew how the stage works. They knew what it feels like to be an actor. So they knew what
was going to be to work the best on stage from the actor's point of view. And they also knew
what the audience wanted and like to see. And so they knew how to create the plays that would
also please their audiences and make for a good spectacle.
And the second factor that is to be remembered about these Shakespeare's predecessors was the
fact that the training began as actors. And then they revised old plays and then finally they
became independent writers. So that was basically how we will later see Shakespeare's creative
way was going, starting as an actor, transitioning into rewriting or revising the existing plays,
and then becoming independent writers.
And another thing is that they often worked together. It is also known that Shakespeare also
works sometimes with others, for example, the Marlowe and others in revising old plays,
creating the new ones. So that was a common practice, basically. So they had that common stock
or store of material from which they took their stories or borrow their stories, their characters.
And that's why we often see the same names appearing in the plays by different authors.
Sometimes they even produced two plays or even more plays on the same subject, because the
different authors used the same story. And so several or multiple plays were sometimes produced
on the same subject. And Similarly, Shakespeare's work also dependent on previous plays.
Actually, even such famous plays as Hamlet actually use the material of earlier plays. So it was
an unknown fact, and that was a common habit and the common practice of that time. So all
these things are significant, if I want to understand, Elizabethan drama, and also the man who
brought it to protection, which was Shakespeare. And the Elizabethan drama was the kind of
development which was rather fast, which was rather rapid, where many men had their own park,
played their own role and contributed to the general amazing period that we call the artistic
period in English drama. Each of these playwrights contributed something of their own to some
the essential element to the drama. So we already heard of John Lyly with his euphuism and
Thomas Kyd with his Spanish tragedy.
And the Spanish tragedy established basically a new genre in English literature theater. And that
was the revenge play, revenge tragedy, and its plot contains murders, violent murders which call
for revenge and that kind of drama, play. Such a Spanish Tragedy was often as often revised and
used reworked in the works of other playwrights or sometimes even parodied in the works by
other playwrights. And so several authors’ work based on that type of drama: including
Shakespeare, Marlowe Christopher and Ben Jonson and some others.
For instance, many elements of the Spanish Tragedy used an element of play within a play. In
Hamlet, for example, where we see the Hamlet inviting the actors to perform a play, but the
Hamlet being a play himself. So it's a play inside a play.
So among other important figures in the Elizabethan period, we find Marlowe, Johnson, Fletcher,
the one who also works with Shakespeare and some others. But we will perhaps take another
look at Marlowe Christopher who is perhaps the greatest, of this dramatist who introduced the
arrival of Shakespeare. So he's one of the best dramatist of this period, and he's definitely the
greatest among Shakespeare's predecessors. He wrote several works, and his plays have a lot of
violence in them. And maybe that is also because of the time that he lived in. So that was
something that he was inspired by, and maybe that was what the audience wanted to see. But
anyway, Marlowe was one of the best Masters of his of his profession. And he describes great
scenes, magnificent scenes, poetic scenes, because displays are written as poetry, in a poetic
language. And so he produces something that was also new for the theater of this time. And
Marlowe produced all his great work in a short period of time, basically within five years or so.
So he wrote poems such as one of his poems is known as "Hero and Leander". But it's not
famous, but he's mostly famous for his dramas, they are called Marlowian or Marlowesque
dramas. So basically he lent his name to that whole type of drama. We can also be described as a
one man type of tragedy. So a one-man type of tragedy is Marlowian tragedy or Marlowesque
tragedy. It is based on or it is centered on one personality that is possessed by some kind of
passion, and is eventually consumed by that kind of passion.
So the first of these Marlowian tragedies, plays is the plan name "Tamburlaine". It's the story of
Tamburlaine who was originally one of the shepherds and then become a chief. And then he rises
in a reward and wins over the King, the Persian King. And so he is successful as a military
leader. He is successful as a warrior, but this success eventually possesses over his mind or he
blind him. And so both of his power becomes the main obsession of his life, and eventually takes
over his whole personality. And so he's such a powerful warrior, he's such a powerful leader that
he believes he can not only win over the regular rulers, but he can also challenge gods. And so
eventually that leads to his demise. The play "Tamburlaine" was a great success. It was great
success with the people who like that kind of performance full of that military glory and so it was
very well received, it was a great success.
Marlowe's subject matter focused also on the moral drama of the Renaissance and his story about
Dr. Faustus. It was actually a story about a scientist and a magician who was obsessed by his
laws for knowledge and for this ultimate knowledge, he sells his soul to the Dell. So this is the
second drama of that scientist of the scholar, and it's considered to be one of the best of
Marlowe's plays. It is about this scholar who wants this infinite knowledge, knowledge of all
things. And he turns from Sciences, from philosophy, from medicine and other sciences of his
time, to the study of magic and to learn magic, he sold to the devil on the condition that he will
have many years of absolute knowledge. And so this basically describes the story of these years.
It's kind of in a way, this play is similar to this other play "Tamburlaine", because it still perfect
in terms of dramatic construction, but it has a great number of beautiful poetic passages.
And Marlowe's third play was the play named "The Jew of Malta". And that is the story of
another passion. That is the passion for wealth, that is an endless desire for wealth. And it enters
about a character, Barabas, who is a horrible person, he's a money lender. And that type of
character led in Shakespeare in "The Merchant of Venice". But Marlowe's plays starts to show
some of the better structure, better construction, which was in advance compared to the other
two. But it also includes some melodramatic quarters, especially in its second part. Of course,
something horrible happens to Barabas, the character, and he creates lots of evil in his life, but he
eventually ends or meets a horrible and himself, but he does not repent, he does not feel bad
about his all the evils that he committed in his life. As he dies, he regrets only the fact that he
hasn't done even more horrible things in his life.
And the last play by Marlowe is a play about the “King Edward the second”. And so it's the play,
a tragedy which studies the Kings weakness and his misery. It is the best, perhaps play by
Marlowe in terms of dramatic structure and style perhaps. So it's considered to be as perhaps the
predecessor of Shakespeare's historical drama, because that Shakespeare also writes about Kings.
So Marlowe is perhaps the only dramatist of the spirit who is compared with Shakespeare
sometimes. So his work is great in terms of imagination, his beautiful poetry, but in terms of the
structure of dramatic construction and, the description and maybe knowledge of human life, the
characterization, and the humor, it actually stands below Shakespeare and in these terms, in these
elements, Shakespeare stands alone. Marlowe only prepares the way for the master who wants to
follow. When we talk about Marlowe, Marlowian or Marlowesque kind of play, we talk about
the play that t is centered around the character who is overcome by some passion and which
eventually leads to these characters sad end. So it's sometimes described as a one-man type of
tragedy.
The other types of this drama: there was the so called the Domestic drama, which began with the
acting of some home since and developed in multiple different ways. And it had some rather
rude humor of the early domestic place and later developed to the comedy of Manners of authors
such as Johnson, for instance, another later dramatist. And The Comedy of Manners is a comedy
which laugh at some of the manners and ways and customs of the higher class of society, of the
contemporary society. So it's called the Comedy of Manners. Shakespeare also wrote the kind of
play that could be associated with the genre of domestic drama.
Then we also see the so-called Court comedy. It's kind of the opposite of the domestic drama
because it represents a different kind of life. And so it was intended for a different audience. And
the characteristic for the court comedy is its elaborate dialogue, complex dialogue, play on words
rather than the action. So it was mostly about the dialogue, the figures of speech, the play on
words. And so it was a certain kind of audience that could understand that all the subtleties of
such a play. So simpler audiences would not appreciate that, but more sophisticated type of
audience would definitely appreciate that kind of more elaborate drama. And that kind of drama
was made popular by Lyly with his euphuism. And again, it was fine elements of it, also in
Shakespeare and other dramatic later dramatists.
Then there is another type of drama which we called the Romantic comedy and Romantic
tragedy. Both Romantic commit and Romantic tragedy suggest most artistic and most finished,
refined types of drama. And in this genre, such authors as Marlowe and Greene and others
experimented. And Shakespeare, which brought it to perfection.
And in addition to these genres, there were also several others. There were the classical plays, so
Classical drama, which was basically based on or modeled on the ancient classics. And so it was
enjoyed by more refined audiences, by more cultivated audiences.
Then there was the Melodrama. There was the Melodrama depended not on the characters and
not on the plot so much, but on some impressive striking variety of scenes and events.
Then there was the so called the Tragedy of blood, which was also more or less melodramatic,
for example, Kyd's "Spanish Tragedy". There a lot of blood was shed and where a lot of horrors
were shown. It also called that tragedy or revenge sometimes. And we see a lot of that in
Shakespeare, too. So he uses that in several of his plays in “Hamlet”, “Kingly Macbeth”. And so
basically this type of tragedy developed into the a genre that reached such heights that it never
did before, that the play never reached before.
So all these different types are interesting because that some of the better playwrights and
Shakespeare himself tried them all. And he's the only dramatist whose plays basically cover the
whole range of the drama from the simple stage show, stage spectacle and he basically developed
the drama of human life. And in a few years, he raised the drama from just initial experiment to
the perfection of form and expression, which has never since been questioned or even equaled.
Shakespeare is a man who's whose skill and his talent brought the period of Elizabeth drama to
its brilliant heights.

5 may Shakespeare literature

Elizabeth period it is most memorable achievment was in the area of drama ,in the field of
drama. All with theese types of place that are popular during this period of time. We see how
the theather finds it is great for audiences among different layers of society basically brings
together the simpler types of theather together with the more highly developed kind of drama.
The second period of elizabeth drama was basically dominated by the university with those
educated ,professional group of literary man. Then marlowe of course was the main the biggest
one. Around him those minor authors were lily,nash, green and others. Lily the author of
euphiors. Wrote a number of place and his style is euphisims is characterized by exaggeration
very ornamented elaborate complicated style of expression and then thomas kid who achieves
great popularity with his spanish tragedy translated into europen languages. Introduces this
element of blood,revenged ,blood and thunder into drama. Turns out one of the most appealing
features attractive,features of the drama this period. He is violent it is extravagant but it also
marks the par departure from monotonus. Kind of boring type of earliest theather. Introduces
this element of interest. The greates of this early of shakespeare predecessors is christhopher
marlowe he produces his marlowe dramar ,marlowe play. Built round the passion of the central
character which turns out to be too big for him and basically leads him to his ruin,him reminse.
Marlowe interest also in his use of blanche works which shakespeare also develops and in his
poetic style. Marlowe using his beatiful poetry in his place and also kind of the whole subject
matter of drama higher level. Becuse he introduces theese heroes who were powerful strong
personalities. They were eventually taken over by their passion. They basically reflect that whole
spirit of the renaissance period of amblis desire for adventure exploration , discovery. This
marlowen character also reflected this characteristics this endless desire of
power,wealth ,knowledge. Marlowe basically gave life to this character and introduced passion
on the stage.
The periods of shakespeare work
The greatest of all these elizabeth and dramatist was shakespeare. They say that in the hands
of shakespeare the romantic drama reached it is highest point. It is peak. But truly we do not
know much about shakespeare’life. He remains a bit of mysterious figure even today. We are
gonna be looking at shakespeare if he were one man the two man the man that we know as
william shakespeare. So when gonna be considering those other hypothetical views of
shakespeare as somebody else writing under different name or group of people writing under the
name of shakespeare. We are gonna be looking at a person named william shakespeare.the gene
is that we know as the greatest dramatist of the elizabeth romance and so what we know about
him still is kind of interesting because a lot of plenty of blank sports about shakespeare.
Shakespeare’biography, shakespeare’s life. Basically he was a country boy,very young man.
With not super great education or anything like that . who comes to london looking for a job and
who eventually which is the greatest heights drammatic literature so that is kind of a bit mystery
and how somebody from the province from the country without some any outstanding education
a chief such heights and become such an accomplished master of literature as shakespeare
actually becomes. This person was definitely had his very imagine and creative mind. And he
would often take some all the stories familiar stories but he would put some new life into theese
older stories and added the deepest sort and the feelings to theese stories is making them his
own . he was definitely a very talented person but he perhaps got proper training first as an actor
then as a revier of old place and finally as an independent dramatise so he follow the same carry
a pass as the other dramatist of elizabeth period did starting as a actor learning about the stage
learning about the audience and learning about the people he got in contact with about the world
in general. Then moving to revising all the existing place and finally becoming a full blown
author himself. He worked with other dramatists and learned from them . he learned the secret
of the profession from them and he was a good student , he was actually a fast learner. And he
was a great obserber of life and people and characters everybody that he came in contact with.
His drama is the result of his natural genius , his natural talent . but also his hardwork and his
observational skills. Sheakespera not only wrote drama . he also wrote poems,sonnets. His
works generally divided into four periods. The first period is called the period of early
experiment. It is the period of early experiment shakespeare is still a student he still learn a
himself. The work he produces during this first period the early experimental work is the work
that belongs to those that consist of revision old place. Some of his comedies. He is still learning,
he is still learning to be an author. This is perhaps not his most accomplished work. The second
period is called the period of development. This is the period basically matthews,he grows up.
He get up more sophiscitacion. He writes his great comedies his chronicle place he disparaged
shows his great development as a thinkger and as a writer with the polished technique. This
period shows he is the maturity of his mind and art. The third period is the period which is
associated with sadness. It is a dark period in shakespeare’s life and we don’t know exaclty why.
It could personal reasons maybe it was a loss of a friend or whatever something again it is not
exactly known what caused that kind of a period of sadness and perhaps depression so it is a
darker period in shakespeare’s life but it is also the period he creates his greatest tragedies.
This is basically his highest and peak period. It is characterize by the highest development of his
thought and expression. But he is more concerned with the darker side of human experience of
human life and the destructive things ,destructive passions. Even his comedies not belong this
period he stones is the bit grave. And there is a greate focus on evil. This is the period when he
creates his jullia sezar,hamlet,cleopatra and some others. It is the saddest the period of darkness
it is also the highest period of his drama and the final fourth period . it is called the period of later
experimentation. To this period belong to some of the later comedies and drama. Shakespeare is
now out of his period of depression and sadness and it seems like this darkness that surrounded
him is finally gone and so his mood is changed finallly. It seems like this is the period of peaced
and quiet period of calm. But the tragic passions of the previous period still kind of appear in
this last period. But it is not as final. It is basically one over by goodness. This is also period we
will see gradual decline in the power of shakespeare’s expression and they say that the play
written during this period such as the tempest and the wintest stale. Written together with some
other dramatists. Sheakespeare decide to finish his career as a playwright and moves back to his
native town of stratford upon avon lives london. Returns to his family home and lived there till
he died. That is the changed unusualy life of shakespeare . the live that caused him to live his
family his wife and children to move to london in search of different life and career and to rise
all the way up to the heights of drammatic achievements. Only to finished all as abruptly as he
started. To live london again for a last time and to return back from away started. Basically the
place of shakespeare are very varied there are plenty of everything in them . there are
contradictory thoughts in them they are all kinds of different characters from very intellectual
wants to simple ones there are things that basically very deep very profound and there are things
that are noity or sometimes almost indecent. There is a bit of everything in his place and that
shows his versatility his the many aspects that live together in one person . it is versatility of
somebody who is a genius because his style and this versatility of the highes order. He is not just
a great dramatist but he is also great poet. And perhaps one of the greatest of old times. His
sonette also have all that passion and sensitivity to beauty in them and show some of that poetic
perfection excellence in them. His place are romantic and personal lyrical at the same time.
Shakespeare belonged to the elizabeth age and gecoben age. Because he wrote both during the
reing of queen elizabeht and also james the first . we call him and elizabeth author because this
period of the elizabeth age is also the spirit of shakespeare and shakespeare’s work. But if we
think about theese universality of shakespeare’s . we can say that he belongs to not just the
elizabeth period basically he belongs to all times. No matter how much times passes between
shakespeare and later readers he still remains interesting ,popular and valuable of students of
literature and also for those readers or enjoy good reading. That is why we value shakespeare so
much.

Literature- 6 May
And when we talk about Shakespeare, we talk about four period of his work, which we described
as the period. The name of the first period is “Early experiment”. That was the period of the early
experiment, where he's still learning himself, where he still a student and observer, where he's
still just polishing his skill, learning the secrets of his trade. The second period is called
“Development”. That's where he actually being a very fast learner. He actually achieved great
maturity and where he becomes to become really good at what he does and where we see him
growing as a person and as an author. The third period is “Dark period”. That’s where he was
depression. He was sad and depressed for some reason. So it's a dark period of his life at this
period of sadness and perhaps depression. But that is also in terms of his literature, that's perhaps
the best and the most brilliant period of his work, where he creates some his greatest
masterpieces. The fourth period is called “Later experimentation”. That's the period of calm.
That's the period whatever darkness was upon him, it was lifted. His mood changed finally. He
regained his calm and his former self and mood. And he creates some of his later work, which
perhaps is not as spectacular as what he created earlier, but also belongs to some of the literature
that is still read and discussed today. And that is also the period where he decides that he is done.
He's done writing, and he leaves London and he goes back to his hometown and where he lives
till the end of his days and where he dies eventually.

So that's what we briefly discussed about Shakespeare's work and about the four periods of his
work. And we also noted the fact that some of the biographical facts from Shakespeare life I'm
missing or are doubtful, because we just don't have enough information. Interestingly,
Shakespeare was the man who did not really bother too much to glorify himself. Perhaps he
realized what kind of author he was. I mean, it was impossible for him not to realize the kind of
talent and genius that he person he himself had. But strangely enough, he was not the one who
would be walking around, thinking praises to himself or at least attempting to leave some kind of
or the literary heritage after himself, what he was actually doing. He would often give away his
own manuscripts, to actors, to acting theatrical companies for them to use and to work with. And
so later on, it turned out that they were there were not too many things published during his life,
and he did not really bother to take care of it. So after his death, it was his friend's job to try and
put together all whatever they could find that was left from Shakespeare's writings.

So today we're going to talk a little bit more about some of the works of Shakespeare, but
looking at them from the point of view of their source. So if we're talking about where
Shakespeare actually got his material, where he found the material for his dramas, scholars are
often referred to basically three classes. They are historical, legendary or partly historical,
fictional plays.
The legendary or partly historical plays where characters that were real, or some of the events
that were real are combined with fictitious or imagined, created by artistic imagination,
characters or events, or facts. Some plays as legendary and partly historical, for example, "King
Lear" or "Julius Caesar".
The historical plays that are more or less mostly based in history. So some of the places which
we refer to as historical plays for example, “Richard the third”, “Henry the fifth”.
The fictional plays, which were not really based on history and are created from the imagination
of the author. Fictional plays that are created from the authors’ imagination or not based, in fact,
or history, such as "Romeo and Juliet", or "The Merchant of Venice".
Actually, Shakespeare invented not too many of these new plots or new stories on which his
dramas were based. He mostly borrowed the existing stories that was the habit of that period
Elizabethan. The fact that it was a common practice for authors to borrow the existing stores in
Elizabethan period. And so Shakespeare also did that. So he borrowed the existing material and
wherever he found, and then reworked them, transforming them, adding his own imagination,
adding his own creativity and artistic skill, and basically giving them a second life, a new life.
And as far as his a legendary or semi-historical material is concerned. He relied on the existing
chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. And also on the English translations of ancient
historian works such as Blue Dark, for example. So he relied on some dependable historical
sources for his historical material and for his partly historical works. And the full half of his
plays are fictional, basically. So he uses the most popular romances of the time, and he also
depended heavily on the Italian sources. Very few of his stories are believed to be truly original,
and even these are doubtful. Occasionally, Shakespeare would rework and all the play, such as
"Hamlet" is an example of that.
And once at least he actually used an incident that happened in real life where there was a
shipwreck during a storm. The whole of London was very much interested in that story, in that
incident. Shakespeare made very original and fascinating play that he called The "Tempest". The
Tempest means the storm out of this real-life incident.
There is another way to approach Shakespeare's work, and that's from the point of view of the
dramatic type of his work. According to dramatic type Shakespeare’s works divided into three
classes. Basically, they are called tragedies: tragedies, comedies, historical plays. If we're strictly
speaking, actually, the drama has two main divisions, tragedy and comedy. And in these many
subdivisions are included Tragic Comedy, Melodrama, Lyric Drama, Farson others.
So a tragedy is a drama in which the main characters are involved in some kind of sad,
miserable, desperate circumstances, or they are led by some overpowering passions, as we know
from Marlowian type of tragedy. And it's usually serious, and it's dignified. And the movement
in such a drama grows more and more, and becomes faster as it approaches the highest point, it's
the climax. And then it ends in tragic disasters away, resulting in depth in major suffering means
misfortune of the main characters.
And the comedy, on the other hand, is a drama in where the characters are placed in more or less
happy or at least humorous situations. And the movement or such a kind of drama is towards the
happy end and general good mood, goodwill and happiness.
The historical drama presents some historical age or a historical character, and it may be either a
comedy or a tragedy. And that's why, strictly speaking, when we talk about the type of drama
historical could belong to both either a tragedy or quality.
There is also another class of play that is called doubtful plays. Some of the plays that are
generally attributed to Shakespeare are partly the work of other dramatists of these, especially
some of the earliest works are noteworthy. Shakespeare probably worked with other authors,
maybe even with Marlowe in the parts of some of his plays. And so he would write the final acts
of displacing, association with another dramatist. In some other plays, he is believed to have
written only part of this plays. Then Shakespeare worked with dramatist John Fletcher. And so
the corporational Fletcher and Shakespeare is actually a known fact. And so Fletcher sometimes
would complete or finish some of the works that Shakespeare started. So there is a certain
number of works by Shakespeare, which is doubtful because it is not quite clear how much of
that was actually written by Shakespeare or how much was completed or added or contributed by
the other authors. Some of the plays that were published at first anonymously and then later were
attributed to Shakespeare by publishers who wanted to sell their plays, and so would use the
name who wanted to sell their plays, and so would use the name of Shakespeare's popularity.
And so these kinds of plays, they are much crude, they are not of the same finish as
Shakespeare's plays were, of the same artistic finish as Shakespeare's plays were. Basically here
the name of Shakespeare is just used for promotional purposes. And so this cannot really be
attributed to Shakespeare. It is sometimes believed that Shakespeare's poems have given him a
noticeable place in the Elizabethan age.
He has two long poems, actually. One of them is called "Venus and Adonis", and the other one is
called "The Rape of Lucrece". They're perhaps not as widely known as his plays, as his dramas,
however, contain a lot of poetic value, and they are sometimes not viewed as his greatest
accomplishment in terms of literature, but they were extremely popular in Shakespeare's time. In
comparison with his dramas, however, these poems are not as outstanding as the plays.
Shakespeare's sonnets, they are not yet another category of his work. They were 154 of them,
and they are basically the only direct expression of the poets' own feelings because his plays are
impersonal in terms of his own personal feeling in the sonnets. The sonnets are published
together, but they are actually are not all of the same kind. And these sonnets usually divided
into two classes, addressed to a man who was Shakespeare's friend, who was Shakespeare's
patron, the person who was supporting Shakespeare financially. Because that was the habit of the
time when rich nobleman, rich aristocracy, they choose talented actors, authors, poets and
support the their work by providing financial means and moral support to these authors, to enable
them to keep writing and to create their work, and to basically giving them means of subsistence,
giving them the money to live on. And Shakespeare also had friends like these rich friends who
believed in him and who supported him, and who promotes his in a certain way, because they
contributed to his wellbeing. And it was also a habit at that time for these authors to show their
gratitude for these kinds of support through their work, by praising these people, by praising
their friends and supporters, by telling them about love for them in their work, through their
work, by expressing the gratitude in the most romantic ways. And so it is believed that some of
the sonnets by Shakespeare are written for such a friend. And the other group of sonnets that
Shakespeare wrote, believed to be addressed to a woman who basically is dained his love. She's
referred to as a dark Lady. The dark Lady, which means perhaps not the only that she was dark-
haired here, or that her skin tone, perhaps was a bit darker. But there could also be a reference to
the darker sides of her personality or the character that was perhaps not the easiest one. And
eventually, as we will see from the sonnets, the betrayal of Shakespeare that he grieves through
his sonnets. So Shakespeare Sona are exquisite and beautiful, when we read these sonnets, we
see Shakespeare’s wisdom, we also feel Shakespeare’s passion. We get to know Shakespeare's
philosophy of love, of life, of friendship, of time, and of some other things.
Another thing that I would like to mention in this respect is the kind of work that Shakespeare
writes was to the work of lasting performance, of lasting significance. Shakespeare was viewed
as appreciate and value during his lifetime. And after his death, he actually was also esteemed
and valued as the author of perhaps the greatest skill, of greatest literary imagination and of
greatest impact on English literature and on theatrical art in general. But at later times, later
centuries after his death. And there were voices in English literature that sound Shakespeare's
work and the work of the whole Elizabethan period in general as being too fancy, as being too
unnatural in terms of language, as using the language that is too ornamental, too decorated, too
much so to speak. And so they were even attempts made, and the airforce actually were put into
rewriting Shakespeare, according to the fashion of those later times, simplifying the language
and stripping it off its ornamentation or of its excesses as it was reviewed at that time. the times
of the new classicism, which looked at simplification of the language, which favored the simple
ways of expression. And so they tried to improve on Shakespeare by rewriting his works
according to the latest fashion, and basically depriving Shakespeare's work of its beauty and of
its timeless and endless quality, and which led to pitiful results, as you can imagine. And that
effort did not state or leave through the centuries Shakespeare with all of its exuberance, with all
of its romantic passion state. But the neoclassical airports to simplify Shakespeare did not. And
that tells you about the true value of things because only things of true value survives through
centuries and things that are not really worthy of it. They do not, eventually go away and
disappear. So that tells you about what Shakespeare really is and who Shakespeare really was as
a genius, as a master of word and as the brilliant author and dramatist and poet as well.

And from today's class, we need to remember the way the scholars look at Shakespeare's plays
dividing them according to their source, into historical, partly historical, legendary or partly
historical, fictional. And then another way to look at the drama by Shakespeare is to according to
its dramatic type. And here the division lies between tragedies, comedies and also historical,
which could also fall under these two main categories. And there is also a class of plays that are
doubtful because there was a collaboration with coworking with the other authors, and
sometimes it's difficult to establish the authorship of certain parts of those plays. And that's why
these plays are referred to as doubtful. And then we got also remember about poetry, which is
perhaps of a different artistic value if we compare it to drama, which is the absolute best in
Shakespeare's work. And there are sonnets that reveals a much more personal side of
Shakespeare and which are believed to be addressed to a dear friend of Shakespeare, and the
Dark Lady, the woman who is also an object of an inspiration. But later we will see, as students
of sonnets of Shakespeare's poetry, and so on. It perhaps showed a darker side of hers, treating
the author, perhaps in a treacherous way, be betraying him, basically.

We take a look at sonnet 17. They are not really named by any other ways, but numbers. And so
we refer to them by calling the numbers or sometimes in some anthologists, you will see perhaps
references to this each sonnet by its first line. So if we talk about sonnet 17, it can be named just
that on 17, or it could be named by its first line. Which says, “Who will believe my verse in time
to come?”. Or similarly, if we take a look at sonnet 18, it will be listed just as that on the 18. Or
it will be listed as "shall I compare thee to a summer's day?". Again, that's the first line of this
one. So it's the habit, that's the literary custom of referring to the sonnets either by number or by
the first line, because there was no name given to each sonnet.
Sonnet-17
Who will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were filled with your most high deserts?
Though yet heaven knows it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts:
If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say this Poet lies,
Such heavenly touches ne’er touched earthly faces.
So should my papers (yellowed with their age)
Be scorned, like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be termed a Poet’s rage,
And stretched metre of an Antique song.
But were some child of yours alive that time,
You should live twice in it, and in my rhyme.

How many lines do Shakespeare sonnets have? There is 14 lines.

Who introduced the form of Sonnet to English literature? The sonnet was introduced to England
by Wyatt and Surrey. And so here is Shakespeare's sonnet of 14 lines. And so you see the main
body of the Sonnet and summary of the sonnet is in the final two lines. So even the reason of the
sonnet suggests this structure. It follows the same meter throughout on the body of the sonnet
and then the last two lines, there is a summary, the final message that is presented in a very
concise and exact way in the final two lines.
The language of the Sonnet is not difficult. However, this is poetic language, and the poetic
language is a bit different from the natural, everyday language that we use. So the sentences are
structured differently. They are structured in such a way as to show the beauty of the of a certain
structure of a certain word or a sentence, to bring up the beautiful, the poetic, or to emphasize
things in poetically.
So it starts with “Who will believe my verse in time to come?” it means, Who will believe my
poem in the future, time to come in the future.
“If it were filled with your most high deserts?” it means, if this poem was filled or filled with
your greatest qualities, with praises of your greatest qualities.

“Though yet heaven knows it is but as a tomb

Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts”- But heaven knows that it's only like a
grave that conceals, hides your real qualities and doesn't even show half of your best qualities, of
your talents.
“If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say this Poet lies,
Such heavenly touches ne’er touched earthly faces.”- Even if I had the ability to describe the
beauty of your eyes and drive to the lines that would describe your amazing qualities, the people
who read this in the future would say that this poet is a liar, this poet is telling lies because no
human being ever could ever possess such amazing beauty, such heavenly beauty.

“So should my papers (yellowed with their age)

Be scorned, like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be termed a Poet’s rage,
And stretched metre of an Antique song.”- And so my pages yellow with age would be scorned
would be not taken seriously. Like those old men who would talk nonsense. And the right that
you have to such praise would be only seen as poets exaggeration the elaborate language of old-
fashioned poems.

“But were some child of yours alive that time,

You should live twice in it, and in my rhyme.”- But if they were a child of yours alive at that
time, living but if they were a child of yours alive at that time, you would be alive two times,
twice in this child and in my poem.

So basically, that's how we would translate or paraphrase the sonnet it into our modern language.
So that's the message of the poem to his friend, you should have children, because through your
children, the future generations will see your true worth, how beautiful you truly are. And so you
will be alive two times if they see your child through this child and through my poetry as well.
Because if they only see me, my poetry praising you, describing all your beauty and your
amazing qualities, they will never believe it, and they say, this poet is a liar. It's not possible for
such a person to be alive. It's just like old people who talk all kinds of stories, but which are not
true. And it's a poetic exaggeration. But if they see your child, you would stay alive through this
child and through my poetry.

Literature – 16 May
In our the first sonnet that sonnet In our the first sonnet that sonnet is 17. We actually see that the
motive of friendship, which stresses as in the lines that show his admiration for this friend, for
the amazing character and personality of this friend, for the amazing beauty, physical beauty of
this friend. And the poet values it's so high that he believes that if he just describes it in his
poetry, people, readers of the future will not believe him, because it's not possible for a person to
be so amazingly beautiful and so good. It's just a poetic exaggeration. It's like details that old
men tell each other, where more of those tales is basically the imagination than the truth. And so
the poet doesn't want the future generations to think about his poetry and about his friend in such
a way. And so he says he gives advice to his friend.
What kind of advice does he give to his friend?- He says, where some child of yours alive that
time, you should live twice in it and in my rhyme. So if there was a child of yours living, there
was a descendant of yours living at that time, you will be alive two times, doubly through this
child, through this descendant of yours, and through my poetry. Because if I only write about
you, people won't believe me. So the proof of my of all your good qualities, the proof of your
amazing nature is your future child and more poetry.

How do we know that the poet is concerned about what the future readers know, what the future
readers think about his friend and about his poetry that praises this friend, describes this friend?
How do you know the poet cares about it?- He says future readers will not believe me.
They will say I imagined all that I lied. So they would think it's a poetic exaggeration. And they
will not believe me. But if you have a child, if you have a descendant, then that's going to be the
proof. So you will live through this descendant, through this child of yours, and you will also live
in my poem. But we understand that the poet is concerned about what the future generations will
think of him. Because here include the phrases like who believe my worse in time to come. It
means in the future, if I field my poetry with all your great qualities, who would believe my
poems in the future? And yet my poetry is only like a tomb that hides your qualities, hides your
life, and doesn't show half of your great qualities. Doesn't even show half of how wonderful you
are.
“So should my papers (yellowed with their age)”- When a lot of time passes, the paper becomes
yellow, again it shows that far in the future again, his eyes are looking into the future. So they
will look down at me just like an old man who imagines most of the stories that he tells, of less
truth than a tongue. So they will look down at me just like an old man who imagines most of the
stories that he tells, of less truth than a tongue. So they will look down at me just like an old man
who imagines most of the stories that he tells, of less truth than a tongue. And all that good
qualities that I pray so highly will be viewed as the poet's exaggeration. Your true right be
termed a poet's range, some kind of an elaborate meter of an old song, stretched meter of an
antique song. But with some child of years like that time, you should live twice in it and in my
rhyme. But if there were a child at that time, you would live doubly in the child and in my poem.

So the message of this poem is what?- You are absolutely amazing. You're unbelievable. So I
want the future generations to know how wonderful you are. But if I only write about it, it's not
going to be enough. They may not believe me because you're so good. So the message is Have a
child. And if you have children, descendants, people will see you in this descendants. That will
be the living proof. So you will live through your descendants and through my poetry, he will be
alive twice, doubly in the child and in my poem.

Sonnet 18, we can also name the sonnet it by the first line of which sonnet. Another thing that we
need to know about this sonnet, which will also help you understand the deeply close intimate
the message of this poem. The mood of this poem is the use of some of the old fashioned
pronouns, such as the pronoun thou, pronoun thee, and pronoun thy. Pronouns thou, thee, thy are
old fashioned forms of pronouns of a second-person pronoun that no longer exists in the English
language, but that were popular in Shakespeare's time. We're still in use in Shakespeare's time,
gradually disappearing but still in use, which actually survived from the earlier times. The earlier
stages of the English language had a familiar, informal, intimate form of second-person pronoun.
Singular, and they had a formal form or plural form of the same pronoun. Today, we use you
whether we address one person or two or many, we use you whether we know this person really
well, it's a member of our family, or if it's somebody that we don't know at all, or if it's
somebody who is higher in social status.
In Shakespeare's time, there was a distinction between thou and you. Thou would not be used to
a group of people, thou would only be used to address one person. Thou was an informal, very
familiar, very intimate kind of address. So if members of the same family would want to stress
the their closeness, their loving relationship, they would use thou. Thou shows closeness,
intimacy.
But if they want to be official, they want to be formal. If they want to show the distance to be
cold, formal, they could also use you. That would be used between the representatives of higher
classes. People of lower social classes would not address their friends using the word you.

Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

“Shall I compare you to a summer's day?”- It means, I want to compare you to a summer's day.
You are as gorgeous as the summer's day. When we talk about the summer's day, usually comes
to mind great Sun, gorgeous, beautiful things. Because summer is the time of warmth, of
brightness, of beauty, of nature. So it's something very warm, but if you think about a person that
is compared to a summer's day that tells you something about this person's nature, personality,
character. What kind of person is this?- This person is just like a summer's day. This person can
be kind, warm. A person who makes you feel good, just like summer days are make you feel
good. It's a bright person, it is shining personality. It means this person just admirable. You want
to look at them, you want to hear them, you want to be near them because of that good energy
that they create. It's the person like that the person that is like a summer's day. And that's the kind
of person that Shakespeare describes here. He wants to compare this person to a summer's day.

“Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,”- You are more lovely and more tempered. And
yet you are even lovelier. And you are more temperate. Temperate means stable. You're more
stable. And Shakespeare explains rough wind, because sometimes in May, rough winds, strong
winds happen that shake the beautiful precious buds of flowers.

And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,”- Summers in general do not last too long. Summer's
days are limited. The eye of heaven is the Sun. It's like that eye shining, eye sparkling, eye that's
in the Sky above us, it's the eye of heaven. So he uses the metaphor of the eye of heaven
describing the, Sun. So sometimes in summer, it can be too hot the eye of heaven shines.

“And often is his gold complexion dimmed;”- And often there are clouds that dim this shining.
There are clouds that cover the Sun and dim its a gold complexion, its gold shining. Make it less
they dim it.
“And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed;”- And everything that's beautiful in nature
eventually declines, becomes less, disappears, either by accident or because of the natural course
of things. In nature things get born, they mature, and then they go away. So it's a natural course.
So everything beautiful loses its beauty at one point, either by accident, because accidents also
happen, or through the natural course of things.

“But thy eternal summer shall not fade”- But your eternal summer, your never-ending summer
shall not fade, will not become less.

“Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;”- It means, you will never lose the position of the
beauty that you have.

“Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,”- And deaths will not boast that it has you
wandering in its shade.

“When in eternal lines to time thou growest:”- When you continue living in time, in eternal,
never ending, never dying lines, which lines is Shakespeare's Sonnet.

“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”- As long as people can breathe, as long as people
are alive or eyes can see or they have eyes to read. So long lives this. This means sonnet. So long
lives this sonnet. And this poem gives life to you.

So this is another very personal poem where a friend, shining personality, warmth, and beauty is
praised again and compared to a beautiful summer's day. But unlike things in nature which have
their time a rather short time, the eternal summer of the poet’s friend shall not fade, shall not
disappear and the beauty is not going to be lost. And death will never have this dear friend in his
shade. Because as long as men can are alive and they have the eyes to read, this poem will live
and will give life to the dear friend.
Do you think that this sonnet 18 reminds you of Sonnet is 17?- the lines show the future
generations your beauty. They can read from here. Just price the woman and use the metaphor
show his beauty. So talking about the beauty, talking about living through the centuries in the
lines of Shakespeare poetry. Something similar to what was in the first sonnet, but not quite,
because in the first sonnet, the poet is concerned that his literature is not enough for the future
generations to believe how good the friend is. So the child should be there. So the child should
be there. And then this amazing person is going to live through the child and through the poetry
here in the Sonnet 18. And the poet does not talk about the child. The poet talks about the lovely
nature of his friend and his eternal poetry. The lines that are immortal, the lines that will live
forever, the lines that are immortal, the lines that will live forever, the lines that are eternal. And
so because his poetry is eternal, because it will live forever. You will live forever. Because this
sonnet, this poem things of you. So as long as there are people alive, as long as they keep
reading, you will be alive through the lines of my poem. That's what Shakespeare is saying.
Some of the metaphor here the half of this poem of the sonnet is basically the description of
natural things, of things as they happen in nature. And then towards the final part of the Sonnet.
The poet says that, you are not like that, that's not going to happen to you. You will never die,
you will never lose your beauty, you will never lose the shining personality because you will
continue living through the lines of my eternal poetry. By the way this Sonnet was written not for
a Lady, but for a Man. But in Elizabethan period the talented poets had the reach, aristocratic
friends, who would protect them, who would help them financially, would promote them, who
would basically encourage them to write, to create, and who would be there, friends and patrons.
And to show their gratitude to these people. They would write very personal kind of poetry
which was not even to be published. It was very personal, kind of a message where this friend
would be described in such highly poetic terms, in highly poetic way. So his admiration for this
friend is immense.

It's an interesting fact to know that this was written for a young man. But it doesn't matter
because this sonnet is a little masterpiece in its own, it has a life of its own. And so we don't even
need to know who it was written for. We can think of it as a lyrical poem written for one person
who thinks very highly of the other person. It doesn't matter what the gender of the person is.
That's not the most important thing here. The most important thing here is the personality that is
described. And this personality is sunshiny, bright, absolutely sparkling, shining warm. The one
that makes you feel good, just like a summer's day makes you feel good. It's the kind of person
that you want to be with, that you want to be near. And it's just like we all enjoy over summer,
because we have so many good things associated with the summer. So the choice of summer's
day, of the of all these descriptions of things that happen in nature, they add to our perception of
the poet's message. Why? Because they affect our senses. What kind of senses? Our vision, our
perhaps a sense of touch. The poet uses sensory words. For example, Rough winds so strong we
can feel the strength of that with rough winds do shake the darling buds of May. They are darling
because they are pretty. The first appearing flowers, they are not open yet. There are buds,
they're Darling. But the rough wind sometimes shake them in May. And the eye of the Sun is
sometimes too hot. So summers are beautiful but imperfect. But, my friend, you are different,
you are even lovelier, you are more stable. All these things happen to nature and in nature. But
your eternal summer shall not fade. Your never-ending summer will never end. You will never
lose the beauty that you have. This will never claim you in its shade. When you leave, continue
living in the lines that live forever. So that's the message. You will live forever, and my poetry
will live forever, too. Eternal lines to time, thou growth as long as men can breathe, as long as
there are people, they will read this. This will leave my literature, this poem will live, and it will
give life to you.

So I love this Sonnet because I feel warm when I read it. I see the brightness, the shining, the
golden colors, the beautiful flowers, the month of May, there are just too many nice things, that
Shakespeare describes here the eternal, never-ending summer. It's a good we don't want it to end.
But the eternal summer shall not fade. And so you will never end. Your beauty will never end.
So that's why I love this one.

It's important to remember the social-historical context of the time that the peace is written. It's
true not only of the Elizabethan period, it's true whatever piece of literature we're looking at
always remember the socio, historical and social context, because then you know how to how to
relate to this piece.

That's another sonnet 94. it's very different from the two that we have read before, but again, it
allows us to see Shakespeare what he thinks is right and what he thinks is wrong.

SONNET 94

They that have power to hurt, and will do none,

That do not do the thing, they most do show,
Who moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow:
They rightly do inherit heaven’s graces,
And husband nature’s riches from expense,
They are the Lords and owners of their faces,
Others, but stewards of their excellence:
The summer’s flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself, it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed out-braves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds,
Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds.

So he's not talking about thou, you or dear friend or anybody like that. Here message is different.

“They that have power to hurt, and will do none,

That do not do the thing, they most do show,
Who moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow:
They rightly do inherit heaven’s graces,
And husband nature’s riches from expense,”- Those people who have the power to hurt
somebody but will not do it, who seem to be capable of doing some things, doing some kind of
action but will not actually commit it. Who moving others, who arrows others excite others but
themselves stay calm, cold like stone, unemotional, and do not fall into temptation. They will
inherit heaven's graces, they will be favored in heaven, they are doing the right things in the eyes
of God. Husband nature's riches from the expense, prevent nature's treasures from waste, from
being wasted.

“They are the Lords and owners of their faces,

Others, but stewards of their excellence:”- They are in a position of themselves, the others using
their own beauty for the other people's use. But others stewards of their excellence, the others are
just the reflections of the excellence of these are in control of themselves.

“The summer’s flower is to the summer sweet,

Though to itself, it only live and die,”- The summer flower is lovely when at its peak, although it
only does natural things living and dying. It's a natural function of living and dying.

“But if that flower with base infection meet,

The basest weed out-braves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds,
Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds.”
- But if it becomes infected with a serious kind of a disease, with a serious infection, the basest
weed out-braves his dignity. Do you know what weed is? It's the kind of a wild grass, the one
that is not used for any useful purposes or for decoration, which just grows everywhere. Usually
people when it grows in the gardens or on the road, people remove it because it just ruins the
garden, it ruins the roads. It's just wild grass. It's weed. So he says if this beautiful flower gets
infected, then any wild grass will be better because sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds,
because the sweetest things become the most unattractive as a result of the bad deeds, as a result
of the bad things that they do. Sweetest things become ugly as a result of their bad deeds. Lilies
that are ill, that are routing smell far worse than weeds than the wild grass.

So obviously, this poem, this Sonnet is very, very different. Here Shakespeare telling us what he
believes is the right way of living, is the right thing to do.
What are these things that are the right things to do? -If you have the power to hurt, you can hurt
someone, if you can do something to somebody or do something that you obviously everybody
knows you are capable of, you don't boast of it. You don't do it. If you stay calm, although you
can excite everybody, get everybody else excited, but you keep your cool, keep calm and stay
cold, and unemotional. If you don't fall into temptation, that's the right thing. These people will
inherit heaven's graces. That's the good kind of living, that's the right kind of living. And it will
also prevent nature treasures from being wasted. So you are not wasting what was naturally
given to you on an important thing. So these the people who know their own value, the people
who value themselves, they are ones that the others can only try to imitate, try to reflect the
perfection. Then Shakespeare does another one of his favorite references to how things are in
nature. Because, beautiful summer's flower, but this flower itself does what is natural for it lives
and dies. However, when this beautiful flower gets infected with the disease, it becomes worse
than the worst wild grass, the worst weeds because when sweetest things start to rot, get infected,
they turn ugly by the bad deeds, by the negativity, and they start to smell worse than even the
lowest basis sweetest.
I like the idea that Shakespeare puts forward. Basically, what he's telling us is that it's important
to be in control of your life, it's important to be in control of your emotions. It's important to
remember who you are and to value yourself for who you are. And if you do the right kind of
living, if you can stay in control, if you can find the ways not to abuse your power, if you can
stay away from all kinds of abuses, temptations, you will be living a good life. And if you're a
good person, remember that you should stay that way. Because when nice things start turning
wrong, get infected. They smell much worse then the weeds than unworthy ones. Because, we
expect weeds to be removed and thrown away because it's useless, ugly. Sometimes it hurts our
garden, the other plants, and so on. We don't expect much of it. Sometimes it smells bad, it looks
bad. So we remove it, we throw it away. So if nice things, sweetest things become infected, if
they turn to the wrong side by their deeds, they become even worse than these weeds. Because
we don't expect much from the weeds. But we expect a lot from the goodness, from the good
ones. And so when they become infected, it's worse than when they smell worse, than even the
ugliest weeds. So that's what Shakespeare tells us about the right living, about remembering who
you are and not turning away from your path of good living. And so he ends with that again,
natural description of a natural some of flower and then becoming ill with an infection, and then
routing and then smelling really badly worse than the weeds. Because this serves a certain
purpose. Which purpose does that serve? Turning to that analogy with nature with how things
happen in nature sometimes, why does he bring this in this sonnet? What purpose does he
achieve with that?- Remember sensory writing, so we best understand, see hear, feel the
message when it affects our senses, our vision, hearing, smell, touch and taste.
So look for Shakespeare does here. First, he tells us, this is the right thing to do. But look what
happens in nature. And he tells us what happens to that sweet summer flower. And we
immediately see it, feel it, smell it. How it turns ugly. starts to smell bad when it gets infected,
and we immediately get the message. So to prove his point, Shakespeare gives us those very
sensory images that immediately allow us to get message.
So when you talk about it in abstract a year, you should but when you actually see it, when you
hear it, when you smell it, you gets the message right. So it's beautiful, but then it gets ill, it gets
infected, it turns ugly. And then it smells even verse than the weeds. So he delivers his important
message by allowing us to experience it through our senses. And then we get it, then you
understand it and then we say, that's true, he is right. It's beautiful, but when you smell it, it starts
to rot and then you throw it away. But, when it's worthless to begin with, you don't even smell it
because you know it's not going to smell good. So if you are good, stay that way.
Shakespeare made you think about life, about our ways, about what's good and what's not so
good, about expectations, about so many different things. That Shakespeare is actually talking
about in this Sonnet.

Literature 19 May
there was a sonnet where the poet basically describes what he believes is the merit of good
living, the worth of staying true to your character and maintaining or staying true to your good
nature. The third sonnet was not really about love, but it was about the about the value of living a
good life and remembering about who you are, controlling your passions and being in control of
your own gift and powers that will definitely bring your respect and also the heavenly graces. If
you continue to follow along with path.

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments; love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no, it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

This song is perhaps the hardest one to understand because of the way it is written. The sonnet
are not so seemingly simple, are not so simple because this is highly poetic language, and
because the sentences are structured in a certain way well to achieve the poetic purposes of the
author. But this particular sonnet add something extra to eat again. This is the style that the poet
chooses to implement to deliver his message.

“Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments; love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.”- I'm not going to admit to any reasons why to truly
minded people should not be together. He says the marriage of true minds- He means the people
who think along the same lines, people who are faithful, true mind, the people who stay true to
each other. And so he says, I'm not going to announce or declare any reasons why these two true
minds should not be together. Because love is not love, when it changes, for example, that the
circumstances have changed. So love is not love, which changes when it finds a change in
circumstances or when a lover is unfaithful. So even if the loved one take steps to end this love,
to end this romantic loving relationship, the love remains constant. So this love remains constant,
even if it is no longer return, even if it's no longer mutual.
“Oh no, it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.”- Oh no, it is that constant, something
that constant mark that looks at storms, but it's never shaken. Perhaps here we can find an
analogy with a lighthouse is a structure in the sea or near the sea, which shines through the night,
high up for the ships to seat on a dark night, even in bad stormy weather, and which guides the
ships away from the rocks, from the rocky shore, and kind of show them where the danger is and
sending them the safe way. So here the narrator compares love to that constant light, that
Lighthouse, that the mark sees the storm, sees the problems, the difficulties, the hardships, but
itself is never shaken, but it stays the same. And when we talk about the sea storms, but his
speaking figuratively, he is actually talking about the storms of the relationship, the storms of
life, and even looking at the storms, this light remains stable. It's not shaken. It's not taken down
by the storms, by the problems, by the hardships. Love is the guiding light, guiding star to every
ship, every boat that is lost at sea, whose worth, whose value cannot be calculated. But its height
can be measured. So you cannot measure its value, you can only measure its height.

“Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.”- Love is not depending on time. Love is not at the
mercy of time, but rosy lips and checks, but physical beauty eventually goes away with the
passage of time. And here the writer uses the image of the times sickle, the sickle compass. So
it's like shaving off the days, the minutes, the seconds of somebody's life. But it takes away also
the physical beauty of everything living. But love is not at the mercy of it. It never is affected by
the Compass of his sickle of time. Sickle love doesn't alter with hours and weeks of the time, but
it stays strong, it endures, it bears it out, even to the edge of doom. It endures until the end of
time, until the last day of life.

Remember the last two lines where the narrator gives us a final conclusion or a summary, or
basically his quintessential message to us. He says-
“If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.”- If I can be proved wrong about my thoughts on love, then
I never wrote anything, or I take back everything that I have ever written, and no man has ever
truly loved anybody.

So that's the meaning of this sonnet. If we take a close look at how the author and the narrator's
words, his message, we find out that in quite a few sentences are in almost every line we notice
something. What is it that strikes us as we look at the lines and we see it in almost every line?
what is it that we see ones continually, repeatedly throughout the sonnet? what is it that we see
continually there almost every line of the sonnet?
Look:
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments; love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no, it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Not, no, never, unknown, not times and so on- We see the negation in almost every sentence.
And that is very unusual because the message of this sonnet is basically about the positive, the
affirmative nature of true love, which stays constant, which stays true, which stays faithful,
which stays strong whatever problems could they be unfaithfulness, storms of life, problems,
difficulties, change in circumstances, change of time, passage of time, all these things love stays
strong and constant. But he delivers this affirmative message by using negative negation in
almost every sentence. So he delivers the affirmative through the negative statement. That is
very unusual and creates a certain special effect where you see the word not never, no and so on.
But you realize that it is actually stating something positive. This is very different from the
previous sonnets and such an unusual way that the author chooses to deliver his message or to
bring his thought to us. He added attraction to this particular sonnet because he talks about
something positive using negation, using continuous repeated negative structures.

Let's look at the last two lines where he says, If this be error, if everything I have said is wrong
and upon me proved and you can prove it to me, I never writ, nor no man ever loved. It means I
never wrote anything and no man ever loved. Then I take back everything that I have ever
written and no man ever truly loved. So the last two lines have a challenge to us. So the last two
lines have a challenge to us. If you prove him wrong, it means he will take back everything that
he wrote or he never wrote and no man ever loved again. In this last challenge, in these last two
lines, the author again is a little bit tricky, he's playing with us because Shakespeare authored that
a great number of works. So we can never say that he never wrote anything. Because We know
he did, we also know the throat man's history, human history, people always fall in love, have
always fallen in love, will always fall in love. So we can never say that no man ever loved. So to
say that Shakespeare never wrote anything would be untrue. To say that no man ever loved
would be untrue. So by definition itself, it is impossible to prove Shakespeare wrong. So by
saying if what I think about love is wrong, it means that you can prove that what I think about
love is wrong. It means I never wrote anything and nobody has ever truly loved. We cannot
prove that because we know Shakespeare wrote quite a few works and people have fallen in love
throughout the whole history.
So that's the interesting quite an interesting sonnet. And although it might seem a little bit of a
poetic exaggeration, and nevertheless this final challenge that the author throws at us,
challenging us to prove him wrong, also remains unattainable, remains unfulfillable, because
obviously we can't.

Sonnet that perhaps speaks about love, but in a very different way, and is also very different in
from the previous three sonnets. What is the tone in your opinion of this particular Sonnet?
When we talk about the tone, we talk about the mood of the Sonnet. What is the tone of this one,
in your opinion?- So perhaps it should be read in a slow at the lowest pace. Because it sounds
like somebody's reflection, somebody's thinking about the nature of true love. Slowly, in a more
pensive way, pensive mood when you actually start thinking, “what is it that true love is about”.
Love does not love which alters when it alteration finds or bends with the remove it to remove.
So it's not that of a happy-go-lucky narrator that is full of feeling and wants to spill it out on
everybody else in of feeling and wants to spill it out on everybody else in the world. But it is a
reflection of somebody mature, somebody who has perhaps lived alive and has seen a lot in this
life, who has learned to tell the true love from something that's passing, which is just perhaps an
interest or infatuation and knows the difference between the two. So his is a quiet move, a quiet
tone, a comma tone in this particular Sonnet. So it's much more reflexive. So it's thinking about
the nature of true love and recognizing its value as something which is stable, which is constant.
Despite of all these changes that naturally experience in life, it remains unchanged.

And then this final dairy bold challenge that the author suggest, if you can prove me wrong, it
means I never wrote anything and no one ever loved anyone.

We've heard a lot of many poets say true love, it never changes, it never dies or whatever. But
Shakespeare choose is such an interesting form to talk about it through these constant negative,
through this constant negation, and finally giving us that little challenge. He actually finds a new,
different way of talking about the old theme of the constant nature of true love. Some researchers
also look at this sonnet in terms of it showing the poet's insecurities about the object of his love,
who perhaps is thinking of ending a relationship. And the narrator is trying to prove these are the
side that no true love cannot just end like this. It is something that stays with even if one side of
this relationship decides to put an end or to take a step towards the end of the relationship, the
other one will never will never be able to do it, it will stay true to his love.

So there's also another view of this sonnet. It doesn't mean it's right or it's wrong. It's another
way to read this on it. There is no right or wrong interpretation. All of us really perceive it,
understand it, feel it differently because of our own life experiences, because of our own
background, our own, our own feelings, and so on. How do you feel about it? What is your
interpretation of this sonnet?

Today we're going to continue with our fragment from Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet is a
romantic tragedy, and these romantic tragedies or tragic romances were popular centuries before
Shakespeare actually started to work on this particular topic. And so even in antiquity, in the
ancient times, people would write tragic romances. And so Rome and Julia became one of
Shakespeare's most famous and most widely performed plays. This particular romantic tragedy
is set in Italy. So it takes place in Italy during the Renaissance period, somewhere between 1300-
1400 and the main action takes place in the city of Verona. But at one point, Rome is also sent
to another place, another city Mantua, where he's exiled. And so the plot of the story is about this
young couple, these young people named Romeo and Juliet, and they belong to two different
families, Romeo is from the Montague family, and Juliet is from the family of the Capulets.
These families hate each other, but Rome Juliet fall in love. And secretly they married, however,
a series of tragic, very unfortunate events takes place. The Juliet cousin kills Romeo's great
friend, and Romeo kills Juliet's cousin in revenge. And as a result of this, Romeo is sent out of
the city. He is sent into exile, banished. Juliet family is trying to force her into a marriage with a
good man, with a noble man. But Juliet doesn't want to hear about it because she's already
married to Romeo. And she only loves Romeo. And Juliet takes a drug that makes her look like
she died. And Romeo don't know about this and he thinks that Juliet is dead. So he drinks poison,
so he can also die with her. But when Juliet wakes up, she sees that Romeo took his own life.
And so she also commits suicide. She kills herself, because she doesn't see her life without her
husband, without Romeo. So basically, the young people, loving people die in a series of such
unfortunate and tragic events. But as the result of these death, at the end, this fight between the
families of Montague and Capulets ends. So the death of the children puts an end to this war
between the families. So the themes of this plays are obviously that those of love, but also of
loyalty, faithfulness, family relationships, friendships, death, and also chance and fate. So all of
these are intertwined in display into this great, very moving, very touching and very delightful
story of the love and death of the two young lovers. So Shakespeare uses this very, very
passionate language to disclose, to reveal, to explore the themes of love and how love can be
beautiful, but also how love can also be tragic, how it can lead to tragedy. But even though the
main characters of the drama dead at the end, their deaths make their families forget about their
fight, put aside their fight, and get reunited in peace. So out of that day, out of that strategy, out
of that lost, something good actually comes out in the end.

There were multiple interpretations of this play, other than just the theatrical productions.
Obviously, it's written for the theater, but it was also Obviously, it's written for the theater, but it
was also put on a big screen. And there are some absolutely brilliant movies made out of this
story.

This is fragment from the famous balcony scene with Juliet. It is in her home. It's late at night.
She goes out on a balcony which overlooks the garden of their house, and she thinks that it's late.
It's night time. She's all by herself and she is basically thinking out loud. However, the Rome is
already in the garden and he can see her and he can hear her. But Juliet lit cannot see him,
because he's hiding in the trees, in the shade, in the shadow of the trees and the balcony's
darkness, nighttime, so she doesn't know he's there. She can't see him or hear him, but he can.
This is also a play, so it's written for the theater. This is also a play, so it's written for the theater,
so being a play, it has a certain format. You will see the name of the character, such as Romeo or
Juliet. And then after the name of the character is mentioned, you have the words that this
character is saying or thinking. Then when the next character steps in, you will see the name of
that next character, and then the words that this character is saying or thinking. If something else
happens in the scene, it will be given as remarks, often in brackets or in parentheses. So we know
that this is also happening in the scene.

ROMEO
“She speaks:
0, speak again, bright angel! for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.”
- Romeo says, she's talking now, say something else, bright Angel, because you are as glorious
to this night above my head. Because he's in the under the balcony. She so she's above his head
as an Angel from heaven, as the winged Messenger of heaven. In Christian religious tradition,
perhaps you know that Angels are perceived as being from heaven, heavenly beings with wings.
And so the winged Messenger of heaven is basically an Angel. So he says, you are as glorious to
this night above my head as an Angel from heaven is to somebody who looks up to the sky with
wonder when that Angel float or ride the lazy clouds and sales through the air.

Juliet doesn't know Romeo is there. And so she continues thinking out loud:
JULIET
“0 Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I 'I I no longer be a Capulet. “
- Juliet says, Romeo, Romeo, why are you Romeo? Because she knows their families and
enemies. Says that you do not know your father. Say that you don't want your name and don't
answer to your name. Or if you will not, just say that you love me and I will not be a Capulet
anymore. So if you don't want to deny your name, tell me that you love me, and then I will forget
about mine, about my name. I won't be a Capulet anymore.

Romeo aside, here aside is a remark that tells us that Romeo is still not talking to Juliet, but it's
kind of talking into the darkness, into space, to aside.
Romeo-“Should I wait. Perhaps should I hear more, or should I speak at this?”

And Juliet continues:

“'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. 0, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.
- Julie says, It's only your name that is my enemy. You would be yourself, even if you were not a
Montague. What's in a name? What is a Montague? It's not a hand, it's not a foot or an arm or
face, or not any other body part that belongs to a person, to a human being, or have some other
name. What does the name even mean? The flower that we call a rose still smell sweet, even it
would still smell sweet if we gave it a different name. And Rome would also still be perfect, just
as he is even if he were not called Romeo, even without his name, Romeo. So get rid of your
name. And instead of the name which is not any part of you, take all of me.

And here when Romeo hears that, he says:

“I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.”
- He says, I take you at your word. I will do what you say. If you only say that you love me, I
will rename myself. I will be new baptized. I will take another name. From now on, I will never
go by Romeo.

Juliet can hear him, because that's what he says out loud to her, and Juliette says:
“What man art thou that thus bescreen'd in night
So stumblest on my counsel?”
- What kind of memory you that listen to my private thoughts hidden in that darkness.

And Romeo says:

“By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am:
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is like an enemy to thee;
Had I it written, I would tear the word.”
- He says, I don't know how to tell you what my name is, because I hate my name dear saint,
because it's your enemy. If I had it written on a piece of paper, I would tear that paper in half. I
would rip that paper in half.

Juliet says:
“My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words
Of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound:
Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?”
- Juliet says, I haven't even heard you say more than a hundred words, but I already know the
sound of your voice. Aren't you, Romeo a Montague?
ROMEO says:
“Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike.”
- I'm neither one. So I'm neither Romeo nor amount you if you don't want me to be Juliet.

JULIET says:
“How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?
The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,
And the place death, considering who thou art,
If any of my kinsmen find thee here.”
- How did you get here? Why? The walls of the Orchard are of the garden are so high and hard to
climb. And, well, considering who you are, you would most likely be killed if any of my
relatives found you there.

ROMEO says:
“With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls;
For stony limits cannot hold love out,
And what love can do that dares love attempt;
Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me.”
- Romeo says, I flew over this wall, on the wings of love. Because walls cannot keep love out.
What love can do? Love will try to do that's why your relatives cannot stop me.

JULIET says:
“If they do see thee, they will murder thee.”
ROMEO says:
“Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye
Than twenty of their swords: look thou but sweet,
And I am proof against their enmity.”
- Juliet knows that if they see you, they will kill you. But Romeo says, Oh, well, there is more
danger in your eyes than in the swords. If you look at me lovingly, I'm protected against the
hatred.

That's the fragment from the balcony. And it's one of the most widely recited scenes from the
tragedy. And although this is a fictional story, you know that there is a balcony in the city of
Verona in Italy. And when tourists come to Verona, they make sure they go to that building
where they believe the Juliet balcony is and bring flowers there and just take pictures there
because they know it's a fiction. They know it's not true, but they want to believe that it's a true
story. And they want to believe that that was that was the real balcony where the scene took
place.

Literature 26 May
The only character, the one character is speaking, but his speech is addressed to the characters of
the play and that is what a monologue is. Soliloquy is a speech of one who is not actually
speaking to anybody else. It's the speech of a character that doesn't know, doesn't see, cannot see,
or is unaware of the presence of the others. So that would be our Juliet on the balcony, who has
no idea that somebody else can hear her, that Romeo is also there. So it is her basically thinking
out loud. It's her talking to the night, it's her talking to herself. That's Soliloquy. If she had known
that Romeo was under the balcony, and if she had wanted to tell him what's on her mind, she
would have said that speech to Romeo. And then her longest speech, would be a monologue with
Romeo standing and listening to her. But there is nobody else around, she's just only speaking to
herself, so it's soliloquy and not a monologue.
What is the difference between a monologue and soliloquy ?- so in a monologue, when I speak to
my students and they do not interrupt, they do not ask you questions. I'm just delivering my
lecture. It takes the form of a monologue. I know that you're listening to me. I know that you're
there, but the format of our communication is just me speaking. is just me speaking.
When I sit here and my students are not here. I cannot see them here in class, and I start talking
to myself out loud. Let's imagine that I'm so full of whatever emotion or my mind is so full that I
have just to somehow speak it out. And there is nobody else in the room. So I think that nobody
can hear me. I'm sitting here and just telling whatever it's on my mind out loud. That would be
soliloquy.
So the difference is between I know you're here, I'm talking to you, and it's only me speaking,
that is a monologue. But I know you are not here, or at least I cannot see you, maybe you are
here secretly, and I just cannot see you, that would be soliloquy.
In drama in theatre that the only way for the dramatist to show the viewers the thought, the inner
thinking of the character is through such a soliloquy by allowing the character to speak out, to
tell what's on his or her mind, even if there are no other actors on stage. And soliloquy the way
for the viewers in the theater to look into the head of the characters. And so soliloquy is a chance
for the viewers to hear the thoughts of a character.

So Juliet on the balcony believe that nobody can hear her. And it's a soliloquy because she
speaks her mind. She speaks what's on her heart. We're going to be looking today at another
famous soliloquy, and just like the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, this other soliloquy
and Juliet's soliloquy a little later turns into a dialogue with Romeo, because at a certain point in
the balcony scene, Romeo steps out of the shadow and says, I'm here, I hear you and I take you
by your word. In this part they start talking and that's when the soliloquy ends and when the
dialogue begins.

Today we're going to be looking at that other famous soliloquy from Shakespeare's other famous
play, “Hamlet”. It's also called the monologue, but it's actually soliloquy “To be or not to be”.
Shakespeare Hamlet's play is as famous as Romeo and Juliet. And it was based, on a legendary
person named Amleth. Or there's also another opinion that it might be based on lost play by the
same name. It's it was described sometime early in history, this it appeared in the 12 century, and
Shakespeare just borrowed the ideas for his play, and adapted it to the style of his time. He also
uses those dramatic, long speeches, complex language, blank verse. He used all those to move
the plot of his play along. And if we talk about the setting of the play Hamlet, it takes place so in
the late medieval period in the Kingdom of Denmark. And so it describes the tragedy describes
the Royal family of Denmark with Prince Hamlet, then his uncle Claudius, who becomes King
after killing Hamlet's father, and then Hamlet's mother, Queen Gertrude who later, after her
husband is killed, marries King Claudius. There are other several other characters, the noble men
and women, such as Polonius, for example, and Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius, and
Hamlet's friend. And so Hamlet discovers that his uncle Claudius killed his father to become the
King himself. And that knowledge is a very, very heavy burden on Hamlet and it kind of drives
him mad. He feels like he has to take revenge on Claudius, on his uncle. And then he is
approached by his dead father ghost. And the ghost asks for revenge. And so Hamlet is looking
for the way to take revenge on his uncle, on King Claudius. Hamlet accidentally causes the death
of the King's advisor, his counselor, Polonius, which leads to the suicide of his daughter,
Ophelia, and Hamlet's friend. And finally, Helmet's confrontation with Claudius leads to his
uncle's death, but also to the death of his mother, Ophelia's brother and himself. So there are lots
of death in this strategy. When we just started talking about Elizabethan drama, and we talked
about the very, very popular the Spanish tragedy, the tragedy of blood, or the tragedy of revenge.
And Hamlet borrows from this Spanish tragedy, that is why all that blood, all that murder, death
of the all the main characters, and all of that is present in Hamlet.
So Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is a very tragic character. And so this play basically describes his
mental, his psychological struggle and his actions that follow his father's death, his anger
towards his uncle Claudius. And that all of these eventually leads to the deaths of many people
that he loves actually, and later on, to his own death, eventually. And so the power of this
strategy is based on these themes of the play, themes of betrayal, the themes of revenge. All of
these are madness, of fear, of death and suicide. So all of these are important motives of this
play, and because they're so dramatic, because they're so powerful, they make it the play itself
very powerful, too. Just like with “Romeo and Juliet” tragedy, which was so popular and still
injury, that there are different attempts at staging it, at producing various versions of it, theatrical
or cinematographic versions of it. And Hamlet is considered as one of Shakespeare's most
influential play and also one of the greatest play in English literature. And so there were multiple
literary adaptations of the play. It inspired many authors, many writers, to a certain degree. It
inspired the actors, very, very different authors to develop characters that were like Hamlet.
Maybe they did not necessarily recreate the characters and the events of the play, literally, but
they inspired Hamlet like characters. And so they would make either direct or indirect references
to the play. So obviously, the tragedy was very significant and continues to be still very
significant. So Hamlet was also filmed, and there were several movies made starting from the
mid 20-century versions, and then the end of the 20 century versions and even in the 21 century.
So there were multiple attempts at the screen adaptations of Hamlet. So that it tells you that it
still continues to be important for people even today.
And it still continues to amaze us and to inspire us. And we still want to see it, perhaps through
the prism of our time. He tells us that what Shakespeare is talking about in his play, it continues
to live. It's still important, it still lives.
Fragment “To be or not to be” starts with one of the most famous lines in literature, and it starts
with words that have become actually the cliche, perhaps. And so I used now out of context, out
of its original context, and with a few of steps of sarcasm when we want to decide on something
very important and we humorously or sarcastically sometimes say, “To be or not to be” that is
the question.
Fragment:
“To be, or not to be: that is the question”- So the question is, is it better to continue to exist or
not? Is it better to be alive or dead?

“Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
 And by opposing end them?”- Is it more noble to suffer all these hard, difficult, nasty things that
life and luck throw your way, through on you? Or to fight against all those troubles by simply
putting an end to them once and for all.

“To die: to sleep;

No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished.”- So to die, to sleep, just that is as simple as to sleep. That's all that
dying is. It's a sleep that ends all the heart-ache all the shock that life on Earth gives us, and that
is an achievement to wish for. So with that sleep, we end all the heartache and all these natural
misfortunes miseries that humans have to tolerate, have to endure. It's an end that we would all
wish for, we would all hope for.

“To die, to sleep;

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;”- He says, to die, to sleep then perhaps to dream. And that's
the problem. Because in that sleep of death, the dreams that we might have, after we have put all
these all the troubles of physical life behind us, that must make us pause, take a pause, slow
down a little bit. That is certainly something to worry about. That's the consideration that create a
calamity of such a long life. That's the consideration that makes us stretch out, prolonged our
sufferings so long.

“For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin?”- After all, who would want to tolerate all the lives humiliation, the abuse
from the a superiors, the insults of proud men, of arrogant men, the pain of rejected loves, the
legal system. That is not fair, that is not efficient, that does not serve Justice at the right time.
The rudeness of the people in a position, in a office, the people who hold positions of authority
and the mistreatment that good people have to take from bad people, the advantages that the
worst people take of the best people when one could just simply take out your knife and put an
end to all of this.

“Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?”- Grunt means to make a noise of anger or pain. When
people are in pain, they grant, or when they are angry, they also make that low noise. So who
would choose to grunt and sweat through this exhausting, hard life if they were not afraid of
something dreadful after death? Who would carry this load? Who would sweat and grant under
this burden of this life if they were not afraid of the afterlife? That unexplored country from
where no traveler ever returns, that the undiscovered country from where nobody, no visitor
returns, which we wonder about without getting any answers from. And which makes us tolerate,
endures the evils, the problems that we know, rather than rush to find the other problems and
issues that we have no idea about. So we choose to put up with the evils that we know about
instead of hurrying to the other evils that we perhaps don't know about.

“Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;

And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.”- Fear, thinking about it makes cowards of us all, fear of death
makes us all coward. And the first impulse to end our life is weakened by thinking about it, by
reflecting on it. So our natural boldness, our natural determination becomes weak with too much
thinking. Actions that should be carried out immediately at once, get weaker and stop being
actions at all. So basically, these great plans that we are preparing for a weekend to the point that
we don't do anything at the end.

“Soft you now!

The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remembered.”- But quiet, it's kind of like "shhh" or waits a minute. Here comes
the beautiful Ophelia. Nymph is a mythological magical creature, very delicate, with wings.
Very pretty, very pure, innocent magical that lives in the woods, lives near the lake, lives in
nature. And so he compares Ophelia his friend, to the beautiful Nymph. He says, Nymph in that
horizon be all my sins remembered. So wait a minute, here comes this beautiful, pretty lady
Ofelia. Please remember me when you pray, remember all my sins in your prayers. Horizons are
prayers.

So that's Hamlet's Soliloquy. Hamlet here is trying to decide something very important for
himself. And we see why this is called the soliloquy, this is something very, very personal that
Hamlet is talking about. So we can basically say that is what he is thinking about. This is just
like in the balcony scene where Juliet is talking to the night, to herself because nobody else is
around. And Hamlet here is also talking to himself. Sometimes people sometimes speak out loud
when they are in a state of very heightened emotion. There is a lot on Hamlet's mind. And so his
heart is so full, his mind is basically about to explode. And so he has to let it all out, he talks
about it. What is it that he's talking about? Our first line tells that to be or not to be. So that is the
question that he is busy with now. That's the most important question on Earth for him today.
What does it mean to be or not to be? It means to be alive or to be dead. To continue leaving or
to die. That's as simple or as hard as thought. So obviously this shows that Hamlet is living
through a major, internal conflict. Internal conflict in literature is the conflict with yourself.
It's the conflict not with somebody, or with some outside force, it's the concept with yourself
because you have to make that major, most important decision for yourself. That would define
the theme of this Soliloquy because the theme of this l Soliloquy is that life is hard, life is a
struggle. But death is perhaps even scarier than life, because we just don't know because it's
unknown. We don't know what we find after death. It is perhaps even higher scarier than what
we have to experience in the physical world while was alive. And so this is the main theme of
this Soliloquy. So life is a struggle, But death is the unknown, and the unknown can be scarier
than this life.

Literature 27 May

In which instances can we here this statement to be or not to be that is the question in your
opinion?- dilemma. We would normally this phrase to be or not be that is the question in are
daily situations when if we have some kind of a choice we have to make there is some kind of a
dilemma . Does it have to be the choice that hamlet soliloquy or can be something smaller l
mean if we talk about our daily lives?-does it have to be something major like what hamelt is
facing or can it be smaller issue nothing as dramatic as hamlet’s choice?- it can be just come on
problem. And then what would it add to these phrases going to take a slightly different meaning
than in hamlet’s situation what would it sound like ?- it would not be soliloquy because you are
not going to continue speaking as hamlet is speaking here. If applied to our regular lives and
nothing as tragic as dramatic as what hamlet is saying here and has to deal with here . It is not
gonna be as dramatic and as tragic it is gonna be perhaps a bit humorous where we realize the
importance of the choice we have to make but it is not really about life and death. In a context
like that takes a new meaning which is a bit humorous because there is the a mismatch between
the seriousness of the original context, the context of hamlet soliloquy the choice between life
and death and the much smaller impact of our daily choices and that add a little bit of a
humorous effect to the statement so it actually takes a different life if applied to a different
situation it can half that humour starch then or it can half a sarcasic starch if applied a different
situation which is far less dramatic than hamlet original one. Sometimes we said jokingly to
show that yes we are we have to make a choice to be or not to be. Which one of the choices
should l really make? That is the important choice. But of course it is nothing as important,
nothing as final or nothing as really tragic that hamlet has to deal with. Which can be very scary
and because it is unknown it is perhaps even most scarier then life full of injustices and
hardships and that people sometimes have to face. How does shakespeare use figurative
language to talk about death?in this soliloquy what is death compared to in this soliloquy?-
sleep. He compares to sleep that’s why he says that several times he says to die,to sleep no
more. So to die is kind of the same to go to sleep and to be no more , to stop being and then again
he says when as he continues thinking about he says to die ,to sleep. To sleep perhaps to chane
to dream . to die just like basically going to sleep, to sleep but when we sleep perhaps when we
die perhaps we also dream perhaps we also have some kind of visions, some kind of dreams .
He compares death to sleep,dreams the after life. What is that hamlet feels very unhappy about
in this real life? What is that hamlet is so annoyed with is so disappointed with in this real life?
Can you find that place in the soliloquy which descibed that?- who would be of weeps and
scores of thime and was a strong and aprroach. And the thanks of despite love and loves on the
insole up the office this spurns that patient married. Basically from here for the whips and
scorns of time the presses wrong the proud man contromally , the pounds this by love the lose
delay the influence of the spurs that patient married unworthy takes ,these are the things that
hamlet is unhappy about that he is annoyed with, he feels are wrong with this society with this
life and you see quite a few things actually that lists here as what he sees as wrong with this life.
What does the quietus so he says he would tolerate all these who whould put up with all these
when he mights his quietus make with a bare bordkin what does that mean? - that means that
you put and end to all of these , to all these injustices , just a simple with just a knife do taking
you puttind and edn to need putting to final end, final stop to everything with a knife a bordkin
is a long knife a long needle and so it is as easy as using your knife which means - taking your
own life. In this also refers to some of things that he describes he mentiones the knife and so he
talks about how hardly life, how hard is for people of suffer and struggle and to work hard,
experience hardships and to pant to grant means to make low noise or pain or anger and so
obviously describes the state of suffering and the hardships that people experience in life as the
they have to suffer. Who would tolerate that who woul carey these burden? When you can
actually ended all so fast except if you except for the fear of something after death. Then he
compares death with something what does he compared next several statement to death all life
after death to?- undiscover country and it is so scary because no one returns from there we know
nothing about it. And so that is the think that might actually slow you down eventually. Because
this is the unknown, undiscovered country from which location nobody ever know travel
returns it is the unknown and that was slow you down. When he talks about the things that
make this life difficult or unbearable he mentions the oppressors wrong , the puns of despised
love? What is the puns? We talked about the arrogance the rudeness the respectful treatment
what is the puns of depised love?- it is the pains of the love that is not mutual, love that is not
returned, unrequitted love and the lose delay what is the law’s delay?-when we delay something
it means we do it later, we put it of till later. Law’s delay means when justice is served late, not
in a timely manner ,when justice is not served at a due time that is the law’s delay. The insolence
of office and this burns patient married to the unworthy takes. Insolence of office agian this
respectful attitued of the people in power in office. Next phrase the spurs that patient merit of
the unworthy takes what does it mean?- again this is disrespectful, treatment or mistreatment
when disrespectful treatment that the humble people the patient have to take from the unworthy
from bad, from unworthy ones. Who would put up with al these when you can actually take the
matter into your own hands and put and end a final decisive and to all thes was just a knife?
Who would suffer under the burdens of this life if it were not for the fear of something after
death and then what we have already said that unknown the undiscovered country from where
nobody ever returns. And so that’s unknown that fear of the unknown makes people
reconsider,makes people think about twice before actually doing that final taking that final step.
Basically hamlet understanding of death is a something scary because he does not know what is
going to happen to if he dies or when he dies and it is unknown because nobody came from the
dead and nobody ever told us what this after life is like that’s why it is so scary and it could turn
out to be worse than what people have to suffer in real life in this life. Hamlet says that that the
dread of something after death undiscovvered country from who know travel turns puzzles the
wheel and make us acccept or tolerate endure those difficulties problems issues that we have
then rush to the other that we have no idea, fly to other that we know not of. Does conscious
does make cowards of us all. What does it mean?- he thinking about it turns us weak it makes
cowards of us. Coward here is a person who is afraid to take that final step and so if you think
about it really hard you will be scared to take this final step thinking of this prevents you from
taking this final step. But let’s look at conscious again as we know it also here in this context
we already understand he talks about thinking a lot about this issue that’s perhaps the most the
easiest the simplest and the most obvious interpretation of this word. But if we think about the
meaning of the conscious outside this poem what do we mean ?- concsious it the our moral
judge it is what something that every person has in his heart and sould that allows him or her to
say that okay this is right and this is wrong. l m doing something something right or l should not
really be doing this because this is wrong it is that moral judgement that we all have all humans
have, allows us to tell the right from the wrong. That ‘s what conscious is sometimes we say
yeah l sould not be my conscious is going to bother me if l do this . l will not be able to live
with my conscious if l do this. It means your moral judge tells you that you should not be doing
this you will be uncomfortable after words it is not the right think to do, it is not your think to do
. that ‘s what conscious the moral allows us tell the right from the wrong. The word concious
also used in the religious connotation when we talk about our believes, religious believes that
teach us how to do thinks right or wrong. Remember when they right constitution for example
there is always an article in any constitution of l guess most countries which says okay people
are guranteed the right to this and right to that, they guranteed the right of conscious . what does
that mean?- it means the right to chose whatever they believe religious believes that they seem
right to them. Freedom of conscious is the freedom to pursure or freedom to follow whatever
religious believes they think are right. The conscious it is moral judgement is associated also
with the religious aspect of our morality and so if you think about this term of the religious
choice in every religion in most religion l m not talking about every because l don’t know about
every but in most religious that at least in the religious we know of how do these religious look
at at an act of suicie?- as a scene. Christianity does that islam does that and most religious
actually look at it as scene something highly desirable something that they teach you not to do
strongly teach not to do. Because it is a scene, it is mistake, it is a wrong believe. And so if we
think about conscious in this aspect so in the aspect from the christian point of view and we will
be looking at christianity because obviously hamlet is the prince of denmark that is a christian
country. From the point of view of their religious view takint your own life he is going to be a
big scene conscious here is also moral judge and that prevents you from taking your own life
from the point of view of your religious believes as well. So it takes away your determination to
put and such and end to it because your religioun condems it and looks as it as a scene. So
hamlet says that conscious does make cowards conscious takes away our determination to put
and end to ti by taking our own life. That is the native your resolution originals determination to
original impulse to do it is weakend by the thougts, by thinking about it and enterprises of great
moments with this regard . So such a big such a strong determination this very strong decision in
this regar d goes wrong turns in the wrong direction ,takes a wrong and different direction from
the original plan and lose the name of action and leads you to no action and does not allow you
to take the final step. And this point in our soliloquy something happens what happens?- hamlet
realizes suddenly he is not alone them he says ophelia so he says okay wait a second, l m not all
alone. So the next word already the words that are not the words of the soliloquy but they are
addressed to ophelia he says ophelia here comes beatiful and pretty ophelia what is he asking
about?- when you pray ,pray for me remember me when you pray , pray my sins. Why do you
think he asks her pray for him at that moment?- when he sees ophelia the first think he says is
that please pary for my sins ,what does that suggest to you?- prayer is religious an act of
religious of a religious right. It is one of those things that people do when they adress their
thougths and their souls and their hearts to god. When they ask for suppor for help or express
their gratitude to god and they respect and when they worship. Perhaps it is not by chance that
the moment he sees ophelia he asks her to pray for him. Look at what we just talked about?
What happens the second before he sees ophelia? What he is thinking about? What kind of
decisionn he is trying to make? And the final conclusion conscious does make cowards as all
and we’ve already analyzed it from the point of view of a person is a christian and then he sees
ophelia and the first think he says to her in the arises be all my sins remembered. That perhaps
suggests that he thinks of all that the idea that came to his mind about taking his own life
perhaps seem full. And so he is almost scared of his own thoughts now when he realized that
this is something is going to be a sin. And so when he sees ophelia when he sees his friend, his
pure and humble girl first think he tells her please pray for my sins. He has just think by
thinking about his own life. It is not by chance perhaps that the first though comes to him when
he sees her and know that she ig goint to pray is to ask her to please pray for him so he seens
can be forgiven. Here is a very strong indication of that face he really believes that to take his
own life is going to be big scene. Otherwise perhaps he would have told her first thing the
minute he sees her please pray for my sins. It is still on his mind and so he tells her the first and
biggest think that is on his mind now. Althought hamlet obviously is suffering and he obviously
hates his life and he wants to be dead he will not kill himself because suicide is a sin. So hamlet
chooses to suffer rather than sin, rather than his own life and commit a sin. What does that
decision and what does that whole thinking that we have been discussing what does that tell us
about hamlet’s character? What kind of understangind do we developed through reading this
soliloquy?- he is very very sad he is perhaps he depressed because think about it when peope
talk about suicide when people talk about taking their own lives they usually deeply depressed
thoughts like that do not come to people when they are in a calm or in a happy state. Those like
that like these come to people when they are deeply depressed when they see know other way
out when they can not to take whatever issues they expreiences or they have to face any longer.
He is depressed , he is obviously suffering , suffering from depression he is very sad he is very
sorrowful he is also very thoughtful. He is the preson who philosophical attitued to life because
he takes his time to think about the issues of life and death . can we say that he is perhaps a
believer in god?- that he believes in god. Perhaps he believes in god because that’s what finally
stops him that thinking and realizing it is a sin actually in addion it is very scary because it so
unknow because nobody knows maybe the after life even worse than what we experience in this
life,real life. And also religious sense that prevents him from commiting that seen that also
describes hamlet as the person who still believes in god and so he does not want to harm his own
soul. He is capable of feeling very deeply of some profound reflection of thinking deeply
looking into things of an analysis. And also indecission as weel. We see that althought he thinks
that that suicide is actually something that quick end to suffering and pain in life and quick easy
end is perhaps the very desirable end that anybody would want for themselves. However that
understanding that that fear of after life after death prevents you from taking this final step and
the idea of your conscious prevents you from taking this final step and so eventually leads to
the decision that hamlet makes and that is the continue living not to take this step, not to find the
easiest solution out of this unbearable situation .which literary devices that shakespeare uses in
the soliloquy are varid? We see the metaphor here when he talks about the slings,arrows, see of
travels when he says to die to sleep he uses metaphorical devices to describe what is going to his
mind, he also uses repetition and see how he repeat word ,structures obviously. Uses alliteration.
Literary devices are numerous and all they are used the ccreate this effect on drammatic effect
very powerful speech that hamlet delivers the continues to be a long like just like the balcony
seen from romeo and julliet . hamlet solliloquy one of the most widely read and cited,speeches in
drama not just the english drama in the world drama one of the most famoys speeches. That is
not accidental l think because l think this is very very powerful. Why do you think it is famous?
Do you find it powerful speech? Maybe it is impact, it is power is exaggerated perhaps taken out
of propotion. The pain that the character’s experiences. We can relate to we fell for we
empathize with hamlet. Perhaps each of us each one of us has experienced pain and suffering
and maybe not thinking about take our own lives. But some kind of a very strong pain emotional
pain perhaps sometimes brings us to the point of suffering and sot that;s why we can related to
characters and emotions to the way his feels to the life. If we were to stage would be perform this
or an actor would perform with soliloquy what do you think would be right manner ?- it like
want to scream . when we are highly emotional we will scream we talk louder than perhaps we
normally do and if we are pain that is natural for us to talk perhaps in a higher voice in a louder
voice than we would naturally do and put much more emotion into our speech, into our words
and use perhaps the exaggerates intonation even so that would be one way of staging these
because through this powerful voice,these exaggerated demotion you would show the extent of
his suffering the extent of his pain . what if we make our actor go on stage say this soliloquy
really quietly like in really quiet voice what would happen then?- it could be boring and not
powerful that is possibility. If we imagine that the theather in the stage and the actor comes on
stage and suddenly starts this to be or not to be that is the question whether it isnoble in the
mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageoud fortune or to take arms against the sea of
travels and by opposing end them to die to sleep no more and by sleep to say with end the heart
ache and then natural shocks that flesh is here to this consummation devoult lead to die ,to sleep
and so on. What happens then?- all of a sudden the audience starts to really get really quiet
because they need to heat what he is saying and that creates what with the audience? Is it great
tension the atmosphere of tension because the audience the viewers are trying to hear understand
what the characters saying saying this soliloquy really really quietly theatrical quiet voice is
another way to draw attention to it and to create that thension that we audience will fell and that
tension will also help to stress the heightened emotional state that our characters hamletis in . we
can also actually show that tension through very quiet delivery of these soliloquy . it will have
different effect but it is believe me it gonna be as powerful as the speaking the highly emotional
and loud voice. It is gonne be a different kind of effect but also very powerful perhaps even
scarier on . because it is gonna be also the effect of overhearing somebody’s thoughts. Because
thoughts are usually not loud words are loud , emotions are loud. Our thought is quiet, silent.
Saying it really loud voice forcing the viewers to make an effort to here it . it is also gonna be a
powerful way of delivering it. You create a different kind of tension full of that and expectation
anticipation and fear perhaps there are different ways of approaching you would achieved
slighly different and basically quite a different effect by doing it into different ways.
Northumbrian period. And the Northumbrian Period is basically perhaps the
brightest in the history of the Anglo Saxon, all the English literature. But Unfortunately, it comes
to an end with the destruction of Northumbrian period by the Vikings, by Scandinavian. There
were two other names that belonged to Northumbrian Literature.

Talk about Cadmon, please. It's the huge name in the literature. Cadmon couldn't read or write,
and he lived and worked in the monastery. Verenable wrote about him and he says that Cadmon
was a very nice person, but he couldn't write or read. And in monsters evenings, people get
together in a way, sit down and entertain together by deciding poetry. Sometimes they asked to
Cadmon to write poetry, but he refused because, he didn't know write or read, and he felt
embarassing. One day they again ask to him to recite something but he feelt embarrassing and
left there. And he went to sleep, that night he had a dream. And in dream he saw someone talked
to him. He said, saying something to Cadmon. But Cadmon said, I can't sing because I can't read
anything. But the person insists to sing to him something. And Cadmon answered what should I
sing and the person said that sing me about how things begin. Then Cadmon sings something
which he had never heard before. And when Cadmon wake up, he memorized the all words of
that poet. And he can also add some lines it. And when he comes, the people want to test him.
And they read to him fragments of religious book and ask him to make a poem. And the next
morning, Cadmon returned with excellent poem and they took him the monastery and he recited
the poetry there. And people enjoy his poetry. And so that it was believed that he got the gift
from God because nobody else could compare to his beautiful style, to his beautiful verse and
definitely to his manner of writing, of creating this poetry in his dream while he was sleeping. So
that was another amazing thing about him. So they only had to read something to him during the
day. And then when he after the next day, after he went home and slept on it, he would come
back with a beautiful piece of poetry. And so that's how Venerable Bed describes Cadmon's
story. And Cadman becomes one of the most renowned and popular and respected poetic names
of the Anglo Saxon period. So Cadmon is just one of these names that we remember from the
Northumbrian period.

There were two other names that belonged to Northumbrian Literature. And so the second name
that is associated with the Northumbrian the period is Venerable Bede. He was a monk and he
compiled an ecclesiastical history of English and it was writing Latin and then translated into
English and King Alfred translate it. This is an ecclesiastical history of English give the
fascinated account of Bede's time. And it talks about the AngloSaxonGermanic tribes. And he
copy the library books and pictures people in library and wrote his own poet. In this book
miracles and legends are written which talk about the death of King and the founding of a
monastery. And he wrote his own poets. So Venerable Bede was pretty much a historian and
scholar. So he was also a schooler. So Venerable Bede was a historian and a scholar of that
period. He recorded the early history of the Anglo-Saxon people. He described the arrival of the
first Anglo Saxons in Britain, even gave the names of those Warriors that came to Britain first
and started settling there. So he describes also the pre Germanic times. And so he basically talks
about very important periods or very important events in the early history of Britain. Venerable
Bead was not like that when he wrote his history. When he created his ecclesiastical history of
the English people, he was careful enough to use the information that he could find some kind of
a proof of. And that's why he sent his people to libraries, archives, to Rome, even to work in the
library there. He would use all kinds of proof to write about important historical events. His
approach was very scholarly, academic. It was not freeleless as it was not careless. And that's
why we know about so many events of the ancient of the history of that time. Thanks to Bede for
his serious and academic scholarly approach to his job. He also created fictional work and that is
something different. Fictional work, of course, was the work where he used his creative
imagination.

there was another person named Kunewolf. And Kunewolf was the author of religious writings.
And he also is one of the names that we know of from Northumbrian period. He was the one who
actually signed his work. Unlike most others, he put his name on some of his work, but he did it
in a little bit of an interesting way. He would hide his name in his work. And so to find it, you
have to actually look for it. But that's how today we know that a certain number of work of
that period belongs to Kunewolf. And he is said to have had some really great writing style. But
his writings are off mostly religious nature.

King Alfred is represent one of the most famous Kings in early British history. And he is also the
one whose name were associated with the West Saxon literature. Because King Alfred was not
just a King, but he was also an educator. He was a writer, a translator, and he was a very well
rounded kind of figure, a person who cares about his country, who cares about the history, who
cares about the language, who cares about the young people and their education. And so he did
everything he could to make sure that his culture of his country that remains preserved even at
the times of the Scandinavian or Viking conquest. And the language is preserved even during the
times of the Scandinavian conquest, where Old Norse language was introduced by the Vikings.
But thanks to political and military efforts of King Alfred, the Scandinavian conquest, the
Scandinavian influence was not as overwhelming as it could have been. And the Scandinavian
influence and the influence of the Old Norse language basically did not alter, did not change the
nature of the Old English language to a considerable extent. What he produced it? He produced
some positive changes in the English language, which was simplification. It started the process
of simplification, which was continued later during the Anglo Norman period, but generally
which work of historical and literary importance do we associate with the time of King Alfred?
It's Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. It's Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which again describes important events
year to year, important people and events in the English history. And it continues even after the
death of King Alfred. And it's another important document which has not just historic but also
literary importance. And so thanks to King Alfred, the Chronicle was started during his lifetime
and then continued even after he was gone.

Works of Shakespeare.
 At the time of Shakespeare's death twenty-one plays existed in manuscripts in the various
theaters. The first printed collection of his plays, now called the First Folio (1623), was made by
two actors, Heming and Condell, who asserted that they had access to the papers of the poet and
had made a perfect edition, "in order to keep the memory of so worthy a friend and fellow alive."
This contains thirty-six of the thirty-seven plays generally attributed to
Shakespeare, Pericles being omitted. This celebrated First Folio was printed from playhouse
manuscripts containing many notes and changes by individual actors and stage managers.
Four Periods. A careful reading of the plays and poems leaves us with an impression of four
different periods of work, probably corresponding with the growth and experience of the poet's
life. These are:
(1) a period of early experimentation. It is marked by youthfulness and exuberance of
imagination, by extravagance of language, and by the frequent use of rimed couplets with his
blank verse. The period dates from his arrival in London to 1595. Typical works of this first
period are his early poems, Love's Labour's Lost, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Richard III.
(2) A period of rapid growth and development, from 1595 to 1600. Such plays as The Merchant
of Venice, Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, and Henry IV, all written in this period,
show more careful and artistic work, better plots, and a marked increase in knowledge of human
nature.
(3) A period of gloom and depression, from 1600 to 1607, which marks the full maturity of his
powers. What caused this evident sadness is unknown; but it is generally attributed to some
personal experience, coupled with the political misfortunes of his friends, Essex and
Southampton. The Sonnets with their note of personal disappointment, Twelfth Night, which is
Shakespeare's "farewell to mirth," and his great tragedies, Hamlet, Lear, Macbeth, Othello,
and Julius Cæsar, belong to this period.
(4) A period of later experimentation, restored serenity, of calm after storm, which marked the
last years of the poet's literary work. The Winter's Tale and The Tempest are the best of his later
plays; but they all show a falling off from his previous work, and indicate a second period of
experimentation.
Classification according to Source. 
In history, legend, and story, Shakespeare found the material for nearly all his dramas; and so
they are often divided into three classes, called historical plays, like Richard III and Henry
V; legendary or partly historical plays, like Macbeth, King Lear, and Julius Cæsar; and
fictional plays, like Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare invented few of
the plots or stories upon which his dramas are founded, but borrowed them freely, after the
custom of his age, wherever he found them. For his legendary and historical material he
depended, largely on published chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and on the
translation of Plutarch's famous Lives.
A half of his plays are fictional, and in these he used the most popular romances of the day,
seeming to depend most on the Italian story-tellers. Only two or three of his plots, as in Love's
Labour's Lost and Merry Wives of Windsor, are said to be original, and even these are doubtful.
Occasionally Shakespeare made over an older play, as in Henry VI, Comedy of Errors,
and Hamlet; and in one instance, at least, he used an incident of shipwreck in which London was
greatly interested, and made out of it the original and fascinating play of The Tempest.
Classification according to Dramatic Type. 
Shakespeare's dramas are usually divided into three classes, called tragedies, comedies, and
historical plays. Strictly speaking the drama has two divisions, tragedy and comedy, in which are
included the many subordinate forms of tragi-comedy, melodrama, lyric drama (opera), farce,
etc. A tragedy is a drama in which the principal characters are involved in desperate
circumstances or led by overwhelming passions. It is invariably serious and dignified. The
movement is always stately, but grows more and more rapid as it approaches the climax; and the
end is always disastrous, resulting in death or dire misfortune to the main characters.
A comedy, on the other hand, is a drama in which the characters are placed in more or less
humorous situations. The movement is light, and the play ends in general good will and
happiness. The historical drama aims to present some historical age or character, and may be
either a comedy or a tragedy. The following list includes the best of Shakespeare's plays in each
of the three classes.
Comedies. Merchant of Venice, Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, Winter's Tale, The
Tempest, Twelfth Night.
Tragedies.  Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, Othello.
Historical Plays. Julius Cæsar, Richard III, Henry IV, Henry V, Coriolanus, Antony and
Cleopatra.
Doubtful Plays. It is reasonably certain that some of the plays generally attributed to
Shakespeare are partly the work of other dramatists. The first of these doubtful plays, often
called the Pre-Shakespearian Group, are Titus Andronicus and the first part of Henry VI.
Shakespeare probably worked with Marlowe in the two last parts of Henry VI and in Richard III.
The three plays, Taming of the Shrew, Timon, and Pericles are only partly Shakespeare's work,
but the other authors are unknown. Henry VIII is the work of Fletcher and Shakespeare, opinion
being divided as to whether Shakespeare helped Fletcher, or whether it was an unfinished work
of Shakespeare which was put into Fletcher's hands for completion. Two Noble Kinsmen is a
play not ordinarily found in editions of Shakespeare, but it is often placed among his doubtful
works. The greater part of the play is undoubtedly by Fletcher. Edward III is one of several crude
plays published at first anonymously and later attributed to Shakespeare by publishers who
desired to sell their wares. It contains a few passages that strongly suggest Shakespeare; but the
external evidence is all against his authorship.
Shakespeare's Sonnets.  Shakespeare's Sonnets, one hundred and fifty-four in number, were
published together in 1609. Some critics divide them all into two classes, addressed to a man
who was Shakespeare's friend, and to a woman who disdained his love. The majority of the
sonnets are remarkable for their subtle thought and exquisite expression.
Shakespeare's sonnets occupy a unique place in Shakespeare's heritage, because they are the only
things he has written about himself. The 3 main characters of the sonnets are the Poet, his Friend
& the Dark Lady. The poet expresses the warmest admiration for his friend. The Dark Lady is
the beloved of the Poet. She is false & vicious, but the Poet, though aware of the fact, can't help
loving her. "Dark" means not only dark-haired but it is a synonym for "wicked", "sinister".
Shakespeare popularized the English sonnet, which made significant changes to Italian model by
Petrarch. A collection of 154 by sonnets, dealing with themes such as the passage of time, love,
beauty and mortality, were first published in a 1609 quarto entitled “SHAKE-SPEARES
SONNETS: Never before imprinted.”
The first group of poems are addressed to a young man urging him to marry and have children in
order to immortalize his beauty by passing it to the next generation. Other sonnets express the
speaker's love for a young man; brood upon loneliness, death, and the transience of life; seem to
criticize the young man for preferring a rival poet; express ambiguous feelings for the speaker's
mistress; and pun on the poet's name. The final two sonnets are allegorical treatments of Greek
epigrams referring to the "little love-god" Cupid.
Major themes of Shakespeare’s works. Many scholars have studied Shakespeare's plays; these
are the central themes Shakespeare dealt with in his plays:
1. Humanism. The love for mankind is seen in every play.
2. Freedom. The idea of freedom is felt in Shakespeare’s tragedies and historical plays.
3. National unity under one strong monarch. The Wars of the Roses were not forgotten in the
16th century. Shakespeare felt that a central power through 29 direct succession to the throne
was the only force to stand against feudal wars. These last two themes are stressed in
Shakespeare’s historical plays and in the tragedy of “King Lear”.
4. The masses as a political force. Shakespeare was the first dramatist to acknowledge the
important part that was played by the masses in historical events. This is clearly shown in the
play “Julius Caesar”
5. The themes of love and friendship are developed in Shakespeare’s sonnets as well as in his
plays.

Quotations from Shakespeare. There are many famous quotations from Shakespeare. Here are
some of them.
1. All's well that ends well
2. All that glistens is not gold
3. A sea of troubles
4. Brevity is the soul of wit
5. Delays have dangerous ends
6. He jests at scars, that never felt a wound
7. Much ado about nothing
8. There is history in all men’s lives
9. There is no darkness but ignorance
10. To be or not to be, that is the question
11. What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Shakespeare's Place and Influence. Shakespeare holds, by general acclamation, the foremost

place in the world's literature, and his overwhelming greatness renders it difficult to criticise or
even to praise him. Shakespeare's genius included all the world of nature and of men. In a word,
he is the universal poet. Goethe expresses the common literary judgment when he says, "I do not
remember that any book or person or event in my life ever made so great an impression upon me
as the plays of Shakespeare." Shakespeare and the King James Bible are the two great
conservators of the English speech; his thought and expression have so pervaded literature that it
is impossible, so long as one speaks the English language, to escape his influence.
Shakespeare's work has made a lasting impression on later theatre and literature. In particular, he
expanded the dramatic potential of characterisation, plot, language, and genre. Until Romeo and
Juliet, for example, romance had not been viewed as a worthy topic for tragedy. Soliloquies had
been used mainly to convey information about characters or events, but Shakespeare used them
to explore characters' minds. His work heavily influenced later poetry. The Romantic poets
attempted to revive Shakespearean verse drama, though with little success. Critic George Steiner
described all English verse dramas from Coleridge to Tennyson as "feeble variations on
Shakespearean themes."
Shakespeare influenced novelists such as Thomas Hardy, William Faulkner, and Charles
Dickens. The American novelist Herman Melville's soliloquies owe much to Shakespeare; his
Captain Ahab in Moby-Dick is a classic tragic hero, inspired by King Lear. Scholars have
identified 20,000 pieces of music linked to Shakespeare's works. These include two operas by
Giuseppe Verdi, Othello and Falstaff, whose critical standing compares with that of the source
plays. Shakespeare has also inspired many painters, including the Romantics and the Pre-
Raphaelites. The Swiss Romantic artist Henry Fuseli, a friend of William Blake, even translated
Macbeth into German. The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud drew on Shakespearean psychology,
in particular, that of Hamlet, for his theories of human nature.
In Shakespeare's day, English grammar, spelling, and pronunciation were less standardized than
they are now, and his use of language helped shape modern English. Samuel Johnson quoted him
more often than any other author in his A Dictionary of the English Language, the first serious
work of its type. Expressions such as "with bated breath" (Merchant of Venice) and "a foregone
conclusion" (Othello) have found their way into everyday English speech.

To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.–Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember’d.

SONNET 17
Who will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were filled with your most high deserts?
Though yet heaven knows it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts:
If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say this Poet lies,
Such heavenly touches ne’er touched earthly faces.
So should my papers (yellowed with their age)
Be scorned, like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be termed a Poet’s rage,
And stretched metre of an Antique song.
But were some child of yours alive that time,
You should live twice in it, and in my rhyme.

Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

SONNET 94

They that have power to hurt, and will do none,

That do not do the thing, they most do show,
Who moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow:
They rightly do inherit heaven’s graces,
And husband nature’s riches from expense,
They are the Lords and owners of their faces,
Others, but stewards of their excellence:
The summer’s flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself, it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed out-braves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds,
Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds.

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments; love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no, it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
ROMEO
She speaks:
0, speak again, bright angel! for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.
JULIET
0 Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I 'I I no longer be a Capulet.
ROM EO
[Aside) Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?
JULIET
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. 0, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.
ROMEO
I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.
JULIET
What man art thou that thus bescreen'd in night
So stumblest on my counsel?
ROM EO
By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am:
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is like an enemy to thee;
Had I it written, I would tear the word.
JULIET
My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words
Of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound:
Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?
ROMEO
Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike.
JULIET
How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?
The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,
And the place death, considering who thou art,
If any of my kinsmen find thee here.
ROMEO
With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls;
For stony limits cannot hold love out,
And what love can do that dares love attempt;
Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me.
JULIET
If they do see thee, they will murder thee.
ROMEO
Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye
Than twenty of their swords: look thou but sweet,
And I am proof against their enmity.

Cædmon's Hymn in different dialects

Modern English
Now we must praise the Guardian of heaven,
The power and conception of the Lord,
And all His works, as He, eternal Lord,
Father of glory, started every wonder.
First He created heaven as a roof,
The holy Maker, for the sons of men.
Then the eternal Keeper of mankind
Furnished the earth below, the land, for men,
Almighty God and everlasting Lord.

West Saxon
Nū wē sculan herian
Metodes mihte
weorc Wuldorfæder;
ēce Dryhten,
Hē ǣrest gesceōp
heofon tō hrōfe,
ða middangeard,
ēce Dryhten,
fīrum foldan, / heofonrīces Weard,
/ and his mōdgeþonc,
/ swā hē wundra gehwæs,
/ ord onstealde.
/ eorðan bearnum
/ hālig Scyppend;
/ monncynnes Weard,
/ æfter tēode
/ Frēa Ælmihtig.

Northumbrian
Nū scylun hergan
Metudæs mæcti
uerc Uuldurfadur,
ēci Dryctin,
Hē ǣrist scōp
heben til hrōfe
Thā middungeard
ēci Dryctin,
fīrum foldu,

/ hefænrīcaes Uard,
/ end His mōdgidanc
/ suē Hē uundra gihuæs,
/ ōr āstelidæ.
/ ælda barnum
/ hāleg Scepen.
/ moncynnæs Uard,
/ æfter tīadæ
/ Frēa allmectig.

Əlavələr bitdi.
Nümunəvi testlər:
Dear SBL1 student:
Please return the answers to me before the end of the semester.

1. Geoffrey Chaucer is the author of which famous work?

Geoffrey Chaucer was an English poet and author. Widely considered the greatest English poet
of the Middle Ages, he is best known for The Canterbury Tales.
2. In Piers Plowman, what motive does Piers offer as to why the knight should follow
his advice?
Some of the principles that a good knight was supposed to adhere, to keep in order to live a good
life. And Piers Plowman also reminded the knight that it is important for him to live a good life.
And because the happy existence that he has now may not necessarily be the same when they
pass on to the next world, and the people who are under him in the social hierarchy might find
themselves above the knight in that next slide and in greater happiness if the knight doesn't live a
good life.
3.Bede, Caedmon, and Cynewulf are the three authors associated with which literary
culture?
Bede, Caedmon, and Cynewulf are the three authors associated with Northumbrian literary
culture.
4.What was the permanent theme of Miracle and Mystery Plays?
The Middle English period also is characterized by, or It can also be described by the appearance
of the drama, of the theater. It was religious theatre, it was Church theater first, and the first types
of plays are called miracle plays or mystery plays because they recorded the mysteries of the
Bible. There were stories taken from the Bible. So miracle and mystery Plays' themes were based
on religion.
5.What are the characteristics of Spenser's Poetry that make him the “poets’ poet”?
Edmund Spenser poetry had some specific characteristics. It was very melodious. Edmund
Spenser created the verse of intense beauty; Gary Melodious verse. He had that sense of beauty.
So he created a verse of exceptional mutiny. He showed amazing imagination. He would put
together in one poem, Beautiful ladies, knights, great heroes, dragons, mythology, all these
things and show them against the beautiful background, nature, amazing beauty, beautiful
landscapes. His poetries was also marked by seriousness, and he managed or he was capable of
making all nature and every regular common things beautiful. His love of beauty, His amazing
gift of poetic melody made him known as the poets' poet. The problem is that Edmund Spenser
was an amazing poet, an amazing master of words. He was valued as great stylist to keep well of
creating the most beautiful verse. But he was difficult to read, and he was so difficult to read that
even professionals, even the authors, even the poets themselves, found it hard to read his poetry.
But because of this complexity, because of the sophistication of poets of Spenser's poetry, there
was mostly the poets who could appreciate all that work, all that scale, all that talent that went
into the creation of this poetry. And that's why he's called the poets' poet.
6.Where did Shakespeare find his plots?
Shakespeare invented not too many of these new plots or new stories on which his dramas were
based. He mostly borrowed the existing stories that was the habit of that period Elizabethan. The
fact that it was a common practice for authors to borrow the existing stores in Elizabethan
period. And so Shakespeare also did that. So he borrowed the existing material and wherever he
found, and then reworked them, transforming them, adding his own imagination, adding his own
creativity and artistic skill, and basically giving them a second life, a new life. And as far as his a
legendary or semi-historical material is concerned. He relied on the existing chronicles of
England, Scotland, and Ireland. And also on the English translations of ancient historian works
such as Blue Dark, for example. So he relied on some dependable historical sources for his
historical material and for his partly historical works. And the full half of his plays are fictional,
basically. So he uses the most popular romances of the time, and he also depended heavily on the
Italian sources. Very few of his stories are believed to be truly original, and even these are
doubtful. Occasionally, Shakespeare would rework and all the play, such as "Hamlet" is an
example of that.

1.Survey of British Literature 1

Spring 2021 Midterm Exam E (1.5 hrs)
Total Points:____27_ /30

1. Beowulf is a sample of /1
a. romantic poetry
b. a chronicle
c. a dramatic play
d. epic poetry

2. In Beowulf, what does Beowulf do to defeat Grendel? 0/1

a. He fights him with his bare hands
b. He kills him with his sword0
c. He kills him with poisoned wine
d. He drowns him in the sea

3. Chaucer’s fragment is about /1

a. a plowman
b. Sir Gawain
c. The Green Knight
d. a parson

4. William Langland is famous for his /1

a. allegorical poem
b. translation of the Bible
c. historical chronicles
d. printing press

5. Which of the following is not one of the literary motifs of Anglo-Norman /1

literature?
a. Chivalry
b. Strong religious convictions
c. A devotion to glory
d. The spirit of romance

6. Which work contains the first English language story of King Arthur? /1
a. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People
b. Alfred’s Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
c. Geoffrey’s History of the Kings of Britain
d. Layamon’s Brut

7. This author is associated with Northumbrian literature. /1

a. Caedmon
b. Alfred
c. Chaucer
d. Geoffrey of Monmouth

8. Morality plays displayed /1

a. stories from the Bible
b. stories about the lives of the saints
c. allegorical symbols
d. realistic scenes from the lives of English commoners

9. After the Norman conquest, … replaced … . 0/1

a. romantic stories/religious motifs
b. metrical romances/heroic epic
c. heroic epic/religious plays
d. heroic epic/rimed chronicles
 10. The Canterbury Tales’ plot structure can be described as /1
a. an alliterative verse
b. a metrical romance
c. a frame narrative
d. a heroic epic

11. Describe the fragment’s time period, genre, rhyme/structure, stylistic devices /4
So then over the sorrow of the time      the son of Half-
Swá ðá maélceare      maga Healfdenes  
Dane
singála séað·      ne mihte snotor hæleð continually brooded;      the wise hero could not
wéan onwendan·      wæs þæt gewin tó swýð   turn away woe;      that strife was too strong,
láþ ond longsum      þe on ðá léode becóm,   hateful and enduring,      that on the people came
nýdwracu níþgrim      nihtbealwa maést.   fearfully cruel, violent trouble,      the greatest night-evil.

It was written during the Anglo-Saxon period, and it is a heroic epic poem with alliteration as the
basis of the verse and simple word patterns that make it easy to recall.

12. Name Geoffrey Chaucer’s contributions to English literature: 5/6

a. Heroic couplet

b. Iambic pentameter

c. First user of English dialect

13. Medieval society was very hierarchical. Which statements of Piers’ would /5
Langland’s listeners probably have found most startling?

Hierarchy, as we all know, did not change during the Medieval period. Pier believes that if
you handle your underlings poorly, you will lose your place in Heaven, and they will be
higher than you. In this case, hierarchy rules will be broken. If you don't live a good life, the
hierarchical hierarchy will be altered. And this is essentially William Langland's point of
view. Langland acknowledged the ruler society's social order, but he maintained that life
could be improved if everyone lived a decent life and did what they were meant to do in their
own position the same way. Langland thought it would improve people's lives. So, if
everyone was fair and did their duty, it would be well.

14. What do your think are the key verses of the passage from Chaucer. Why? /5

“if gold rust, what then will iron do?"- Gold is a precious metal, it's a valuable kind of metal.
Because it's rare and it's not easily damaged by rust, corrosion and so on. iron of this is not as
strong as gold is, this is a metaphoric use of these two metals, kinds of metal, Gold contrasted to
iron. Gold is the Shepherd or the priest. And iron is for the regular people, the parishioners, the
sheep. If The priest doesn't show a good example, or the priest starts leaving a corrupt life, what
would you expect from the followers, then? they are not even as educated or as perhaps strong or
knowledgeable about the faith as the priest is. If priest goes back, then what would you expect
from the parishioners. Actually the whole poem is based on the priest, our like Parson. So it's
basically it basically stresses the fact that if you don't live a good life and you are supposed to be
of a higher standard yourself. If you don't live a good life, then what can you expect from the
others who perhaps are not living or are not up to this high standard.

2. Survey of British Literature 1

Spring 2021 Midterm Exam F (1.5 hrs)
Total Points:_______ /30 shakirli Nazperi

1. Beowulf describes a heroic journey to /1

a. France
b. Spain
c. Scandinavia
d. Britain

2. Which of the following is not one of the literary ideals of Anglo-Saxon /1

literature?
a. A belief in Fate
b. Strong religious convictions
c. A devotion to glory
d. The spirit of courtly love

3. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was revised and enlarged by /1

a. Geoffrey Chaucer
b. Geoffrey of Monmouth
c. King Arthur
d. King Alfred

4. The Norman conquest of England brought greater … influence to Britain /1

a. French
b. Scandinavian
c. Germanic
d. Italian

5. Bede, Caedmon, and Cynewulf are the three authors associated with /1
a. Norman literature
 b. Northumbrian literature
c. Scandinavian literature
d. Italian

6. Chaucer helped to popularize … which developed into the national language /1

a. the London dialect
b. the West Saxon dialect
c. the Northumbrian dialect
d. the Kentish dialect

7. For several centuries after the Norman conquest, the English literature /1
a. Was on the rise
b. Was on the decline
c. Was unaffected
d. Was non-existent

8. The authorship of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is /1

a. attributed to King Arthur
b. attributed to King Alfred
c. attributed to Geoffrey Chaucer
d. unknown

9. Stories about King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table became /1
the permanent part of the English literature during
a. The Norman period
b. The Anglo-Saxon period
c. The Celtic period
d. The Roman period

10. Mystery Plays and Miracle Plays /1

a. Were the highest form of drama

b. Were from the period of moral drama
c. Were from the artistic period
d. Were part of religious drama

11. Describe the fragment’s time period, genre, rhyme/structure, stylistic devices) /4
So then over the sorrow of the time      the son of
Swá ðá maélceare      maga Healfdenes  
Half-Dane
singála séað·      ne mihte snotor hæleð continually brooded;      the wise hero could not
wéan onwendan·      wæs þæt gewin tó   turn away woe;      that strife was too strong,
swýð
láþ ond longsum      þe on ðá léode
  hateful and enduring,      that on the people came
becóm,
nýdwracu níþgrim      nihtbealwa fearfully cruel, violent trouble,      the greatest
 
maést. night-evil.

It is a heroic epic poem with alliteration as the basis of the verse and clear word
patterns that make it easy to remember. It was written during the Anglo-Saxon
period. Beowulf is a poem that has been passed down over the generations. Instead
of rhyme, this poem makes use of stress, accent, and alliteration (repeatation of
same sounds or letters in the same line). Beowulf consists of 3000 lines, each of
which is treated as plain text. Each line has four accents, two stressed syllables, a
caesura in the centre, and is divided into two halves. Between the two halves, there is
also a chasm.The stressed and unstressed syllables in the poem work in tandem to
maintain harmony. The kenning is a term used in poetry. It's a literary device and a
compound metaphor all rolled into one. This kenning is made up of two terms that
define a human, a thing, or both. For example, the sea can be represented as a
whale's path, and the ship as a sea-rider.
12. Medieval society was very hierarchical. Which statements of Piers’ would /5
Langland’s listeners probably have found most startling? - The hierarchical order could
be changed if you don't live a good life. Because this is basically the reflection of
William Langland beliefs. Langland accepted the the hierarchical order of ruler
society, but he believed that life could be changed for the better if everybody lived a
good life and did what they were supposed to do the right way in their own place.
Langan believed that could improve people's lives. So if everybody were honest, if
everybody did, their duty is well and right

13. Describe the characteristic features of Anglo-Saxon epic poetry. /6- They
use the cannic. Cannic - it is rhtyocial or literary or stylistic device use in literature
for speccial expressive purposes. Heroic epic it was one of the popular genres of that
period and poetic genre was also popular of the favourite genres of early anglo
saxon literature. Language was very different from modern english.

14. What do your think are the key verses of the passage from Chaucer. Why? -
- Chaucer mimicked three main cycles - the French models. Romeo and Juliet.
second period with Italian literature. the third period is called the English period.
used hero materials. he describes real people, uses a poetic meter, and uses
alliteration and a poetic pattern, which the poetic meter he uses is called the iabic
pentameter. He also used a heroic couplet.
3. Survey of British Literature 1
Spring 2021 Final Exam C (1.5 hrs)
Total points: /40

1. According to John Donne, what is the one thing that all people will experience: /1
a. happiness
b. love
c. individuality
d. death

1. Queen Elizabeth I was praised in an allegory by /1

a. Thomas Malory
b. Thomas More
c. Christopher Marlowe
d. Edmund Spenser

2. Thomas Wyatt and Earl of Surrey introduced … to English literature /1

a. Iambic pentameter
b. Alliterative verse
c. Sonnet form
d. Marlovian tragedy

3. What does the line 'To be or not to be' from the play Hamlet mean? /1
a. To leave or to stay
b. To be happy or to be sad
c. To live or to die
d. To kill or to forgive

5. What does Bacon mean when saying:

“… he that preferred Helena, quitted the gifts of Juno and Pallas.”

Bacon reminds his readers about the lover, unduly infatuated by Helena, lost the two loveliest
women, Juno and Pallas. /5

1. Name four periods of Shakespeare’s work: /4

1. “Early experiment”: That was the early experiment, when he was still learning himself, when
he was still a student and observer, when he was still polishing his skill and learning the
secrets of his trade.
2. “Development”: That's where his ability to learn quickly comes into play. He actually
matured to the point where he became really good at what he does and where we see him
growing as a person and as an author.
3. “Dark period”: That's where his depression was. For some reason, he was sad and depressed.
So he's going through a difficult time in his life, filled with sadness and possibly depression.
However, in terms of his literature, this is perhaps the best and most brilliant period of his
work, during which he creates some of his greatest masterpieces.
4. “Later experimentation”: That is the calm period. That was the time when whatever
darkness he was under was lifted. Finally, his attitude shifted. He regained his
composure, as well as his former self and mood. And he creates some of his later work,
which, while not as spectacular as his earlier work, is also part of the literature that is still
read and discussed today. And that is also the period where he decides that he is done.
He's done writing, and he leaves London and he goes back to his hometown and where he
lives till the end of his days and where he dies eventually.

2. Name 3 classes of Shakespeare’s plays according to their dramatic type: /6

According to dramatic type Shakespeare’s works divided into three classes. Basically,
they are called tragedies: tragedies, comedies, historical plays. If we're strictly speaking,
actually, the drama has two main divisions, tragedy and comedy. And in these many
subdivisions are included Tragic Comedy, Melodrama, Lyric Drama, and others.
1. Tragedy: A tragedy is a drama in which the main characters are involved in some
kind of sad, miserable, desperate circumstances, or they are led by some
overpowering passions, as we know from Marlowian type of tragedy. And it's usually
serious, and it's dignified. And the movement in such a drama grows more and more,
and becomes faster as it approaches the highest point, it's the climax. And then it ends
in tragic disasters away, resulting in depth in major suffering means misfortune of the
main characters.
2. Comedy: The Comedy is a drama in where the characters are placed in more or less
happy or at least humorous situations. And the movement or such a kind of drama is
towards the happy end and general good mood, and happiness.
3. The historical drama presents some historical age or a historical character, and it may
be either a comedy or a tragedy. And that's why, strictly speaking, when we talk
about the type of drama historical could belong to both either a tragedy or quality.
3. Name 3 classes of Shakespeare’s dramas according to their source: /6
1. Historical: The historical plays that are mostly based on history. So, for example,
"Richard the Third" and "Henry the Fifth" are examples of historical plays.
2. Legendary or partly historical: Legendary or partly historical plays in which real
characters or events are combined with fictitious or imagined, created by artistic
imagination, characters, events, or facts. Some plays, such as "King Lear" or "Julius
Caesar," are legendary and partly historical.
3. Fictional plays: The fictional plays that are not based on history and are created from
the author's imagination. Fictional plays, such as "Romeo and Juliet" or "The
Merchant of Venice," that are created from the authors' imaginations or are not based
on fact or history.

1. Match the fragments from the soliloquy (1 – 5) to their interpretation (a – e): /5

1__c__ 2_a___ 3_d___ 4__e__ 5___b__

1. To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd.

2. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause

3.Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?

4. The dread of something after death,

The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all

5. For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

 The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin?

a. But there is another problem: if we die, we sleep, and if we sleep, we might dream. But
what kind of dreams would we have?

b. Who wants to fight against so many problems? We could find peace by killing ourselves.

c. This is one great way of avoiding these problems – then we can sleep.

d. Is it better to tolerate problems and difficulties, or to fight them?

e. But what is there after death? This is a difficult question and maybe there are more
problems afterwards! So we prefer to tolerate the problems we have now.

10. Match the following: /10

1. Soliloquy a. Gloriana
2. King James Bible b. ‘… doff thy name’
3. Elizabethan drama c. Hamlet
4. “bright angel” d. “Tragedy of Blood”
5. Printing press e. Ophelia
6. Euphues f. Dramatic heights
7. Romeo and Juliet g. The Authorized Version
8. “Nymph” h. John Lyly
9. Edmund Spenser i. William Caxton
10. The Spanish Tragedy j. Juliet

1_c__ 2g___ 3_f__ 4_j__ 5__i_ 6_h__ 7_b__ 8_e__ 9_a__ 10_d__

4. Survey of British Literature 1

Spring 2020 Exam B
Exam duration: 3 hours
Total Points:_______ /50

1. Anglo-Saxon Epic Poetry: Name 3 literary devices used by scops in epic poetry /6
 

2. Periods in Development of Drama : Name 3 periods in the development of

English drama /6

3. Piers Plowman: Medieval society was very hierarchical. What effect would
the statement of Piers' “…though they are your underlings here on earth, they
may be above you in Heaven,…” have on the Knight? /5

4. Who does Chaucer mean when he talks about “sheep” and their “shepherd”? /5

5. How was literature different before and after William Caxton?

/3

6. What does Bacon mean when saying

A “The stage is more beholding to love, than
the life of man.” /5

B “…prick in some flowers of that he hath learned abroad…”

/5

7. Variety of Elizabethan Drama: Name 7 kinds of plays /7

8. In our fragment from Romeo and Juliet, why would it be more accurate to call
Juliet’s speech a soliloquy rather than a monolog? /5

9. What does Hamlet’s line “To be or not to be…” mean?

/3

Bonus:

Define Shaskespeare’s plays according to dramatic type /3

Define Shaskespeare’s plays according to Source /3
Define 4 periods of Shakespeare’s work: /4

5. Survey of British Literature 1

Spring 2021 Final Exam B (1.5 hrs)
Total Points: /40
1. What is a soliloquy? /1
a. A speech about life and death
b. A speech given aloud to the self
c. A speech given in front of a group of people
d. A speech about loneliness or solitude

2. A tragedy of one man with an overpowering passion is known as /1

a. marlovian
b. arthurian
c. tragicomic
d. utopian

3. … got to choose word spellings and structures to be printed /1

a. Geoffrey Chaucer
b. Edmund Spenser
c. Francis Bacon
d. William Caxton

4. Elizabethan literature is characterized by /1

a. Youthful vitality
b. Strong national unity
c. Romantic spirit
d. All of the above

5. In John Donne’s fragment, what does the island most likely represent ? /1
a. weakness
b. isolation
c. friendship
d. anger

6. Name four periods of Shakespeare’s work: /4

1.

2.

3.

4.

7. Define Shakespeare’s plays according to dramatic type: /6

1.

2.
3.

8. Name 3 classes of Shakespeare’s dramas according to source: /6

1.
2.

3.

9. What does Bacon mean in his essay On Travel when saying

“…prick in some flowers of that he hath learned abroad…” /1

10. What does Hamlet ask of Ophelia at the end of his famous
soliloquy To be, or not to be…? What does he call her? /2

11. What is the closest interpretation of the line: /1

“…Thus conscience does make cowards of us all”?
a. People are cowards
b. Conscience is the enemy of action
c. All of us, even cowards, have conscience
d. Cowards have no conscience

12. Match the fragments from the soliloquy (1 – 5) to their interpretation (a – e): /5

1____ 2____ 3____ 4____ 5_____

1. To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd.

2. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause

3.Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?

4. The dread of something after death,

The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all
5. For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin?

a. But what is there after death? This is a difficult question and maybe there are more problems
afterwards! So we prefer to tolerate the problems we have now.

b. Who wants to fight against so many problems? We could find peace by killing ourselves.
c. This is one great way of avoiding these problems – then we can sleep.
d. Is it better to tolerate problems and difficulties, or to fight them?
e. But there is another problem: if we die, we sleep, and if we sleep, we might dream. But what
kind of dreams would we have?

13. Match the following: /10

1. Elizabethan literature a. Connectedness theme

2. King James b. ‘What’s in a name?’
3. Hamlet c. Sonnets and blank verse
4. Essays d. “Nymph”
5. Allegory e. Elizabethan drama
6. John Donne f. Authorized version
7. Romeo and Juliet g. William Shakespeare
8. Artistic period h. Edmund Spencer
9. Wyatt and Surrey i. Romantic spirit
10. Romantic comedies and tragedies j. Francis Bacon

1___ 2___ 3___ 4___ 5___ 6___ 7___ 8___ 9___ 10___

7. Survey of British Literature 1

Spring 2021 Final Exam C (1.5 hrs)
Total points: /40

1. According to John Donne, what is the one thing that all people will experience: /1
a. happiness
b. love
c. individuality
d. death

4. Queen Elizabeth I was praised in an allegory by /1

e. Thomas Malory
f. Thomas More
g. Christopher Marlowe
h. Edmund Spenser

5. Thomas Wyatt and Earl of Surrey introduced … to English literature /1

e. Iambic pentameter
f. Alliterative verse
g. Sonnet form
h. Marlovian tragedy

6. What does the line 'To be or not to be' from the play Hamlet mean? /1
f. To leave or to stay
g. To be happy or to be sad
h. To live or to die
i. To kill or to forgive

5. What does Bacon mean when saying:

“… he that preferred Helena, quitted the gifts of Juno and Pallas.” /5

4. Name four periods of Shakespeare’s work: /4

1.
 2.

3.

4.

5. Name 3 classes of Shakespeare’s plays according to their dramatic type: /6

2.
3.

3.

6. Name 3 classes of Shakespeare’s dramas according to their source: /6

3.
4.

3.

2. Match the fragments from the soliloquy (1 – 5) to their interpretation (a – e): /5

1____ 2____ 3____ 4____ 5_____

1. To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd.

2. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause

3.Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
4. The dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all

5. For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin?

b. But there is another problem: if we die, we sleep, and if we sleep, we might dream. But
what kind of dreams would we have?

b. Who wants to fight against so many problems? We could find peace by killing ourselves.

c. This is one great way of avoiding these problems – then we can sleep.

d. Is it better to tolerate problems and difficulties, or to fight them?

j. But what is there after death? This is a difficult question and maybe there are more
problems afterwards! So we prefer to tolerate the problems we have now.

10. Match the following: /10

1. Soliloquy a. Gloriana
2. King James Bible b. ‘… doff thy name’
3. Elizabethan drama c. Hamlet
4. “bright angel” d. “Tragedy of Blood”
5. Printing press e. Ophelia
6. Euphues f. Dramatic heights
7. Romeo and Juliet g. The Authorized Version
8. “Nymph” h. John Lyly
 9. Edmund Spenser i. William Caxton
10. The Spanish Tragedy j. Juliet

1___ 2___ 3___ 4___ 5___ 6___ 7___ 8___ 9___ 10___

Elizabethan Theater
The chief literary glory of the great Elizabethan age was its drama, but even before it began,
several plays appeared which showed that a great development had taken place. They are not
very good plays, but in general the comedies are better than the tragedies.
One of the results of the humanist teaching in the schools and universities had been a great
development of the study of Latin drama and the growth of the practice of acting Latin plays.
These performances were the work of amateur actors, schoolboys or students of the Universities
and were often given in honor of the visits of royal persons or ambassadors. They brought the
educated classes into touch with a much more highly developed kind of drama, than the older
English play.
About the middle of the sixteenth century some academic writers made attempts to write original
plays in English on the Latin model. The three important plays of this type are Ralph Roister
Doister, Grummar Gurton’s Needle, and Gorbuduc or Ferrex and Porrex—the first two are
comedies and last one a tragedy. All these plays are monotonous and do not possess much
literary merit.

Classical Influence upon the Drama

The revival of Latin literature had a strong influence upon the English drama as it developed
from the Miracle plays. In the fifteenth century English teachers, in order to increase the interest
in Latin, began to let their boys act the plays which they had read as literature.
In the classic play the so-called dramatic unities of time, place, and action were strictly observed.
Time and place must remain the same; the play could represent a period of only a few hours, and
whatever action was introduced must take place at the spot where the play began. The characters,
therefore, must remain unchanged throughout; there was no possibility of the child becoming a
man, or of the man's growth with changing circumstances. As the play was within doors, all
battles and important events were simply announced by a messenger. The classic drama also
drew a sharp line between tragedy and comedy, all fun being excluded from serious
representations.
The English drama, on the other hand, strove to represent the whole span of life in a single play.
The scene changed rapidly; the same actors appeared now at home, now at court, now on the
battlefield; and action filled the stage before the eyes of the spectators; the child of one act
appeared as the man of the next; so the dramatist had free scope to present all life in a single
place and a single hour. Moreover, tragedy and comedy were presented side by side, as they are
in life itself.
In the end the native drama prevailed, aided by the popular taste which had been trained by four
centuries of Miracles. The classic drama had an immense influence due to the beauty of form and
definiteness of structure.
The first English comedy, with a regular plot, divided into acts and scenes was Ralph Roister
Doister (1553?) by Nicholas Udall, headmaster of Westminster School, who probably wrote it
for his boys to act. It is in rough verse and contains the sort of humor that may be found among
country people. This first comedy was a mixture of classic and English elements.
Another comedy was Gammer Gurton's Needle, acted at Cambridge University in 1566, also in
rough verse. It is about the loss and the finding of a needle with which Gammer Gurton mends
clothes. Quarrels, broken heads, and a drinking song are important parts of it. This first wholly
English domestic comedy with a true bit of English realism, is full of fun and coarse humor, and
it is true to the life of the peasant class it represents. Its authorship is now definitely assigned to
William Stevenson.
The first regular English tragedy was Gorboduc, in blank verse, performed in 1564. The first
three acts were written by Thomas Norton, the other two by Thomas Sackville. It is about King
Gorboduc of England and his family. (This man appears in Spenser's Faerie Queene as
Gorbogud.)
It is remarkable not only as the first tragedy, but as the first play to be written in blank verse.
There is very little action on the stage, and the story of the play is told; bloodshed and battle are
announced by a messenger; and the chorus, of four old men of Britain, sums up the situation with
a few moral observations at the end of each of the acts.
The first great dramatist of the time was Christopher Marlowe. Christopher Marlow was the
greatest of pre-Shakespearean dramatist. Marlow wrote in blank verse which Ben Jonson called
“the mighty line of Marlow”. In addition to the poem "Hero and Leander," Marlowe is famous
for four dramas, now known as the Marlowesque (Marlowian) or one-man type of tragedy, each
revolving about one central personality who is consumed by the lust of power. His most famous
works are Edward II, Tamburlaine the Great, The Jew of Malta, The Massacre at Paris, and
Doctor Faustus.

Tamburlaine the Great (1587 or earlier),

His first tragedy, Tamburlaine the Great (1587 or earlier), is in two parts. The first part deals
with the rise to power of Tamburlaine, a shepherd and a robber. His terrible ambition drives him
to more power and more cruelty. His armies conquer Bajazet, ruler of Turkey, whom
Tamburlaine takes from place to place in a cage, like a wild animal. In the second part
Tamburlaine is pulled to Babylon in a carriage. It is drawn by two kings, whom he whips and
curses when they do not go fast enough. When they get tired, they are taken away to be hanged,
and then two spare kings have to pull the carriage. Tamburlaine drives on to Babylon, and on
arrival gives orders for all the people there to be drowned. His life is violent in other ways. He
cuts an arm to show his son that a wound is unimportant. He shouts for a map. 'Give me a map',
he cries, 'then let me see how much is left for me to conquer all the world.’

The play was well received, but the violence of the language and of the action, and the terrible
cruelty, are serious faults. Yet Marlowe's 'mighty line' fills the heart and satisfies the sense of
beauty; it is usually powerful and effective.

The Jew of Malta (1589?)

The Jew of Malta is again violent. In it the governor of Malta taxes the Jews, but Barabas, a rich
Jew, refuses to pay. His money and house are therefore taken from him and in revenge he begins
a life of violence. He poisons his own daughter, Abigail, and causes her lover to die too. He
helps the Turks when they attack Malta, and so they make him governor; but he decides to kill
all the Turkish officers. He arranges that the floor of a big room be made to fall suddenly, and
then invites them to a meal in it. He hopes thus to destroy them while they are eating, but an
enemy makes his secret known, and he himself is thrown down below the floor into a vessel of
boiling water. He dies blaspheming, his only regret being that he has not done more evil in his
life.

Dr. Faustus (c. 1588)

Faustus, the second play, one of the best of Marlowe's works, was probably acted in 1588. The
play is based on the well-known story of a scholar who longs for infinite knowledge, and who
turns from Theology, Philosophy, Medicine, and Law, the four sciences of the time, to the study
of magic.
In order to learn magic, he sells himself to the devil, on condition that he shall have twenty-four
years of absolute power and knowledge. The play is the story of those twenty-four years. It has
an unusual number of passages of rare poetic beauty.

Marlowe's Edward the Second (1593) deals with English history. It is possible that he helped
Shakespeare with the writing of parts of Henry the Sixth and other early plays. Certainly,
Marlowe's writing set an example for other dramatists in the great Elizabethan age in two
important ways: the use of powerful blank verse lines to strengthen the drama, and the
development of character to heighten the sense of tragedy. When Shakespeare added to these his
own mastery of plot and his human sympathy, the drama reached its greatest heights.

Marlowe was killed in a quarrel at a Thames-side inn before he was thirty years of age. If he had
lived longer, he would probably have written other splendid plays. Shakespeare certainly thought
so.
Marlowe’s contributions to the Elizabethan drama were great. He raised the subject-matter of
drama to a higher level. He introduced heroes who were men of great strength and vitality,
possessing the Renaissance characteristic of insatiable spirit of adventure. He gave life and
reality to the characters and introduced passion on the stage. He made the blank verse flexible to
suit the drama, and thus made the work of Shakespeare in this respect easy. He gave coherence
and unity to the drama, which it was formerly lacking; he also gave it beauty, dignity, and poetic
glow. In fact, he did the pioneering work on which Shakespeare built his system. Thus, he has
been rightly called “the Father of English Dramatic Poetry.”

The University Wits contributed hugely for the growth of Elizabethan drama. The University
Wits were young men associated with Oxford and Cambridge. They were fond of heroic themes.
The most notable figures are Christopher Marlow, Thomas Kyd, Thomas Nash, Thomas Lodge,
Robert Greene, and George Peele. Of this little constellations, Marlowe was the central sun, and
round him revolved as minor stars: Lyly, Greene, Peele, Lodge and Nash.

John Lyly (1554-1606)

The author of Euphues, wrote a number of plays. These plays are written in prose mixed with
verse. Though the verse is simple and charming, prose is marked by exaggeration, a
characteristic of Euphuism. Lyly's prose comedy Campaspe and his allegorical play Endimion
were performed in front of Queen Elizabeth, probably by boy actors. These boys, known as
'Children of Paul's', no doubt caused a lot of fun when they played the parts of great men such as
Alexander the Great, or the philosopher, Diogenes.

George Peele (1558-97?) formed, along with Marlowe, Greene and Nash, one of that band of
young men trying to earn a living by literary work. He was an actor as well as writer of plays. He
wrote half dozen plays, which are richer in beauty than any of his group except Marlowe. His
most famous is David and Bathsheba (1599) which contains many beautiful lines. Like Marlowe,
Peele was responsible for giving the blank verse musical quality, which later attained perfection
in the hands of Shakespeare

Thomas Kyd (1558-95) achieved great popularity with his first work, The Spanish
Tragedy, which was translated in many European languages. He introduced the ‘blood and
thunder’ element in drama, which proved one of the attractive features of the pre-Shakespearean
drama. Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy resembles Shakespeare’s Hamlet. A ghost appears,
demanding revenge; but it appears to the father of a murdered son, not to the son of a murdered
father, as in Hamlet. A girl who is mad, and a man with the name Horatio (as in Hamlet ) also
appear in the play. Its horrific plot gave the play a great and lasting popularity. Though violent
and extravagant, he was responsible for breaking away from the lifeless monotony of Gorboduc.
There is a belief that Kyd once wrote a play based on the Hamlet story, and that Shakespeare saw
it; but it has never been found.

Robert Greene (1560-1592) lived a dissolute life and died in distress and debt. His plays
comprise Orlando Furioso, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, and others. His most effective play
is Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, which deals partly with the tricks of the Friars, and partly with
a simple story of two men in love with one maid. Its variety of interest and comic relief add to
the entertainment of the audience. But the chief merit of the play lies in the lively method of
presenting the story. Greene also achieves distinction by the humanity of his characterization.

Each of these playwrights added or emphasized some essential element in the drama, which
appeared later in the work of Shakespeare.

Variety of the Early Drama

The Theater
In the year 1574 a royal permit to Lord Leicester's actors allowed them "to give plays anywhere
throughout our realm of England," and this must be regarded as the beginning of the regular
drama. Two years later the first playhouse, known as "The Theater," was built for these actors by
James Burbage just north of London. Its success was immediate, and the next thirty years saw a
number of theatrical companies, at least seven regular theaters, and a dozen inn yards fitted for
the giving of plays,--all established in the city and its suburbs. The growth seems remarkable
when we remember that the London of those days (in 1600) had only about a hundred thousand
inhabitants.
Theaters were built of stone and wood, without a roof, being simply an enclosed courtyard. At
one side was the stage, and before it on the bare ground, or pit, stood that large part of the
audience who could afford to pay only an admission fee. The players and these groundlings were
exposed to the weather; those that paid for seats were in galleries sheltered by a narrow porch-
roof projecting inwards from the encircling walls; while the young nobles, who came to be seen
and who could afford the extra fee, took seats on the stage itself, and smoked, and chaffed the
actors, and threw nuts at the groundlings.

The Stage
In all these theaters, probably, the stage consisted of a bare platform, with a curtain across the
middle, separating the front from the back stage. Unexpected scenes or characters were
"discovered" by simply drawing the curtain aside. At first little or no scenery was used. By
Shakespeare's day, however, painted scenery had appeared.
In all first plays female parts were taken by boy actors, for contemporary literature has many
satirical references to their acting. However that may be, the stage was considered unfit for
women, and actresses were unknown in England until after the Restoration.

Chronicle Plays
First in importance, or at least in popular interest, are the new Chronicle plays, founded upon
historical events and characters. They show the strong national spirit of the Elizabethan Age, and
their popularity was due largely to the fact that audiences came to the theaters partly to gratify
their awakened national spirit and to get their first knowledge of national history. Some of the
Moralities are crude Chronicle plays, and the early Robin Hood plays and the first tragedy,
Gorboduc, show the same awakened popular interest in English history. During the reign of
Elizabeth the popular Chronicle plays increased, dealing with almost every important character,
real or legendary, in English history.

Domestic Drama
1) The Domestic Drama began with crude home scenes and developed in many different ways,
from the coarse humor of Gammer Gurton's Needle to the Comedy of Manners of Jonson and the
later dramatists. Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew and Merry Wives of Windsor belong to this
class.

Court Comedy
(2) The so-called Court Comedy is the opposite of the former as it represented a different kind of
life and was intended for a different audience. It was marked by elaborate dialogue, by jests,
retorts, and endless plays on words, rather than by action. It was made popular by Lyly's success
and was imitated in Shakespeare's first or "Lylian" comedies, such as Love's Labour's Lost, and
the complicated Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Romantic Comedy and Romantic Tragedy

(3) Romantic Comedy and Romantic Tragedy suggest the most artistic and finished types of the
drama, which were experimented upon by Peele, Greene, and Marlowe, and were brought to
perfection in The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, and The Tempest.

Other plays
(4) In addition to the above types were several others,--the Classical Plays favored by cultivated
audiences;
the Melodrama, which depended not on plot or characters but upon a variety of striking scenes
and incidents;
the Tragedy of Blood, always more or less melodramatic, like Kyd's Spanish Tragedy, popular at
the time. Blood and death play a large part in such plays, which grew more blood-and-thundery
in Marlowe and reached a climax of horrors in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. Hamlet, Lear,
and Macbeth all belong to this class, but the genius of the author raised them to a height such as
the Tragedy of Blood had never known before.

Methods of the Early Dramatists

(1) These men were usually actors as well as dramatists. They knew the stage and the audience,
and in writing their plays they remembered not only the actor's part but also the audience's love
for stories and brave spectacles. "Will it act well, and will it please our audience," were the
questions of chief concern to our early dramatists.
(2) Their training began as actors; then they revised old plays, and finally became independent
writers. In this their work shows an exact parallel with that of Shakespeare.
(3) They often worked together, probably as Shakespeare worked with Marlowe and Fletcher,
either in revising old plays or in creating new ones. They had a common store of material from
which they derived their stories and characters, hence their frequent repetition of names; and
they often produced two or more plays on the same subject. Much of Shakespeare's work
depends on previous plays; and even his Hamlet uses the material of an earlier play of the same
name, probably by Kyd, which was well known to the London stage in 1589, twelve years before
Shakespeare's great work was written.

The varied types of drama are the more interesting when we remember that Shakespeare tried
them all; that he is the only dramatist whose plays cover the whole range of the drama. From the
stage spectacle he developed the drama of human life. In a few short years he raised the drama
from a mere experiment to a perfection of form and expression which has never since been
rivaled.

Elizabethan Theatre Conventions

Soliloquy: Hamlet’s “To be or not to be…” is literature’s most famous soliloquy. This popular
Elizabethan convention is a literary or dramatic technique in which a single character talks aloud
inner thoughts to him or herself, but not within earshot of another character.
Aside: An aside is a convention that usually involves one character addressing the audience “on
the side”, offering them valuable information in relation to the plot or characters that only the
audience is privy to. The audience now feels empowered, knowing more about the events on
stage than most of the characters do.
Boys Performing Female Roles: Acting in Elizabeth’s England was frowned upon my many in
society as a profession unsuitable for women, as it was rough and rowdy instead of genteel. As a
result, women were not legally permitted to act on the English stage until King Charles II was
crowned in the year 1660. Shakespeare and his contemporaries therefore had no choice but to
cast young boys in the roles of women, while the men played all the male roles on stage.
Masque: The masque was normally performed indoors at the King or Queen’s court. Spoken in
verse, a masque involved beautiful costumes and an intellectual element appropriate for the
mostly educated upper class. Masques were allegorical stories about an event or person involving
singing, acting and dancing. Characters wore elaborate masks to hide their faces.
Eavesdropping: Eavesdropping was a dramatic technique that sat neatly between a soliloquy and
an aside. Certain characters would strategically overhear others on stage, informing both
themselves and the audience of the details, while the characters being overheard had no idea
what was happening. This convention opened up opportunities for the playwright in the evolving
plot.
Presentational Acting Style: Plays were more overtly a “performance” with clues the actors were
aware of the presence of an audience instead of completely ignoring them as part of their art.
Movements and gestures were more stylised and dramatic than one might expect in a modern
naturalistic or realistic drama, speech patterns were heightened for dramatic effect, and the use of
conventions such as the aside, prologue, epilogue and word puns directly connected characters to
the audience watching. The aside, the prologue, the soliloquy and the epilogue were all
variations on a characters’ direct address to the audience when staged.

Dialogue: Elizabethan plays commonly consisted of dialogue that was poetic, dramatic and
heightened. While often the lower class characters’ speech was somewhat colloquial (prose),
upper class characters spoke stylised, rhythmic speech patterns (verse).
Play Within a Play: This Elizabethan convention was a playwriting technique used by
Shakespeare and others that involved the staging of a play inside the play itself. It was not a
flimsy convention, but rather one that was used judiciously and with purpose.
Stagecraft: In terms of stagecraft, Elizabethan dramas used elaborate costumes, yet quite the
opposite for scenery. Acting spaces were largely empty (bare stage) with isolated set pieces
representing many of the same and minimal use of props (a single tree equalled a forest, a throne
for a King’s palace). This explains the use of rich dialogue full of imagery, as there was no set on
stage to designate the scene’s location. However, Elizabethan costumes were often rich and
colorful, with a character’s status in society being denoted by their costume, alone. There were
no stage lights of any kind, with plays strictly performed during daylight hours. A simple
balcony at the rear of the stage could be used for scenes involving fantastical beings, Gods or
Heaven, while a trap door in the stage floor could also be used to drop characters into Hell or
raise characters up from beneath. Entrances and exits were at two doors at the rear (tiring house)
and not the side wings, as is the case in modern theatre. An Elizabethan actor exiting side stage
may well have landed in the groundings after falling off the edge of the (three-sided) thrust stage
that jutted out into the audience!

John Donne
Meditation 17
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions

'No man is an iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine;
if a clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as
well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because
I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for
thee....'
No man is an island,
Entire* of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod* be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory* were.
As well as if a manor* of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:
Any man's death diminishes* me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore* never send to know for whom the bell tolls*;
It tolls for thee.
John Donne

*whole or complete
*a lump or chunk, especially of earth or clay
*a narrow area of high land that sticks out into the sea
*a large old country house with lands
*make or become less
*for that reason
*rings

John Donne Focus Questions

John Donne (1572-1631) was an English poet whose time spent as a cleric in the Church of
England often influenced the subjects of his poetry. In 1623, Donne suffered a nearly fatal
illness, which inspired him to write a book of meditations on pain, health, and sickness called
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions. “No Man is an Island” is a famous section of “Meditation
XVII” from this book.
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

1. Is it fair to say that the poem sets a melancholy tone? Which lines prove it?
2. What is the theme of the poem?
3. How does the language of the first 4 lines develop the poem’s theme through comparison?
4. What does the word “diminish” mean in the context of the poem?
5. What do the words “I am involved in mankind” mean?
6. Why do you think Hemingway chose the words from this poem for the title of his famous war
novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls”?
7. Donne clearly believes in the interconnectedness of humankind. In what ways does our
modern society reflect this idea? Explain.
8. In the context of “No Man Is an Island,” how do people face death?
9. Today, do most people generally believe that one man’s death diminishes them? Why or why
not? Explain.
The Poets of the Metaphysical School 
John Donne
(1572-1631)

As the songs and sonnets of the great Elizabethan age passed slowly away, the immense lyrical
tide began gradually to lose its force. The age that followed, the Jacobean age, was less fresh -
more interested in the mind than in heart or eye. A group of poets, known as the Metaphysical
Poets, wrote verse which was generally less beautiful and less musical, and which contained
tricks of style and unusual images to attract attention.
Metaphysics refers to the studies of what cannot be reached through objective study of material
reality.
These poets mixed strong feelings with reason, and the mixture is strange. The metaphysical
poets were John Donne, Herrick, Thomas Carew, Richard Crashaw, Henry Vaughan, George
Herbert and Lord Herbert of Cherbury.
They are called the metaphysical poets not because they are highly philosophical, but because
their poetry is full of conceits (an extended metaphor which refers to a situation which either
does not exist, or exists rarely, but is needed for the plot), exaggerations, display of learning and
improbable similes and metaphors. It was Dr. Johnson who in his Lives of the Poets used the
term ‘metaphysical’.
Though Dr. Johnson was prejudiced against the Metaphysical school of poets, he pointed out the
salient (notable) characteristics of this school. One important feature of metaphysical school
which Dr. Johnson mentioned was their “discovery of occult resemblances in things apparently
unlike.”

Dr. Johnson noticed that beneath the superficial novelty of the metaphysical poets lay a
fundamental originality. The metaphysical poets were honest, original thinkers. They tried to
analyse their feelings and experience—even the experience of love. They were also aware of the
life, and were concerned with death, burial, descent into hell etc. Though they hoped for
immortality, they were obsessed by the consciousness of mortality which was often expressed in
a mood of disgust.

John Donne was the chief figure of Metaphysical Poetry. Donne’s poems are noted for its
originality and striking images and conceits. Satires, Songs and Sonnets, Elegies, The Flea, A
Valediction: forbidding mourning, A Valediction: of weeping etc. are his famous works. John
Donne is the greatest metaphysical poet, but it is difficult to find a complete poem by him which
is faultless. He wrote many good things, but no perfect poem. His songs and sonnets are
probably his finest work, but he is best studied in collections of verse by various poets (he wrote
a lot of poor verse which these collections omit). In meter, Donne often put the main beat on
words of little importance; yet he had his good qualities.

John Donne’s poetry represents a sharp break from that written by his contemporaries. Much
Elizabethan verse is decorative in its quality. Donne’s poetry is written very largely in conceits,
concentrated images of intellectual difficulty, most of the traditional "flowers of rhetoric"
disappear completely. In his poetry one never encounters bleeding hearts, checks with roses, lips
like cherries. Donne's rhythms are colloquial and various. He likes to twist and distort not only
ideas but metrical patterns and grammar itself. In the lyrics, as in the elegies and sonnets the
verse always maintains a complex and memorable melody.

But the influence of Donne's poetic style was wide; he wrote for educated and fashionable
Londoners with High Style.
 Donne’s poetry can be divided into three parts:

(1) AMOROUS (2) (3) SATIRICAL

In his amorous lyrics which
include his earliest work, he
METAPHYSICAL
His metaphysical and satirical works A good illustration of his
which form a major portion of his satire is his fourth satire
broke away from the Petrarcan
poetry, were written in later years. The describing the character of a
model so popular among the
Progress of the bore. They were written in
Elizabethan poets, and expressed
Soul and Metempsychosis, in which rhymed couplet and
the experience of love in a
Donne considers the passage of the soul influenced both Dryden and
realistic manner.
through various transmigrations, Pope.
including those of a bird and fish, is a
His influence on the contemporary poets was
fine illustration offar
hisfrom being desirable, because while they
metaphysical
imitated his harshness, they poetry.
could not come up to the level of his original thought and sharp wit.

Donne deliberately broke away from the Elizabethan tradition of smooth sweetness of verse and
introduced a harsh and staccato method.

Thus, with Donne, the Elizabethan poetry with its sweet, smooth flowing, and richly observant
imagination, came to an end, and the Caroline poetry with its harshness and deeply reflective
imagination began.

Of love
1. What does the opening statement mean?
2. What is love compared to early in the essay and why?
3. What does the author refer to as “this weak passion”? What does it reveal about his
attitude to love?
4. Which saying of Epicurus does the author find unsatisfactory? What does Epicurus mean?
5. According to the author, what is man really made for?
6. Bacon describes the stylistics of love as uncomely. What literary device does he find
appropriate to describe it?
7. Who is man’s arch-flatterer? How does the excess of love change that?
8. The allusion to Paris’ choice is made to illustrate what argument?
9. What’s the recommendation for the men who have fallen madly in love?
10. What is the observation made about military men? How is that proclivity explained?
11. What happens if the natural inclination of man towards love of others is not spent on any
one person? How does that affect man?
12. How does this statement agree with the previous arguments?
13. What’s the author’s conclusion about love’s significance for the mankind?
14. Please comment on the way Bacon narrates his observations about love.
15. How would you describe his manner of presentation or way of expressing his thoughts if
you had to comment on it as a piece of “academic” writing?
16. What do you notice about the spelling?
17. Which figures of speech can be identified at first glance?
18. Does the author’s narrative sound more scholarly or literary?

Bacon’s Of Travel

1. What is the opening statement of the essay?

2. What two types of traveler does Bacon introduce and how is travelling experience
different for them?
3. How is travel different for a Young traveler if there is no prior knowledge of a language?
4. What is a good way for a Young traveler to start with?
5. What is expected of a tutor?
6. What paradox does the author mention when commenting on his observation of the use
of diaries?
7. What is to be seen in a foreign country? Comment on the options suggested.
8. What is the tutor’s responsibility in this respect?
9. Which shows are not especially recommended?
10. How does a traveler’s guide help with the trip?
11. How long should one stay in one place?
12. Why change place often when in one city?
13. Why avoid the company of one’s own countrymen?
14. Where should a traveler eat?
15. What should one obtain when leaving a town? Why is that important? How does that
help with the travel?
16. What kind of acquaintances are recommended during travel?
17. Why is making acquaintances with the employees of embassies viewed as highly
desirable?
18. What is the benefit of befriending eminent people abroad?
19. What kind of people are to be avoided?
20. How is the memory of a travel to be maintained upon return?
21. Should the traveler take a proactive or a reactive approach in communicating his
experiences?
22. Is it worth changing the manners of one’s own country for those of foreign ones?
23. What does the closing sentence say about the flowers?