The Bard's Birthday

Today is William Shakespeare's 444th birthday. There's an insightful article in today's Melbourne Herald Sun about the timelessness of the Bard and why we should celebrate today:

"Shakespeare has more than any other figure in literature influenced how we see the world."

Writer Christopher Bantick illustrates some of the lasting lessons that Shakespeare taught us in his enduring plays.

Speaking of plays, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London opens its 2008 season today with King Lear—his "most profound tragedy"—which is running until October 5. The theater also commemorated his birthday with a giant celebration Sunday.

While April 23 is widely recognized as the date of Shakespeare's birth, his actual birthday is unknown. However, he was baptized April 26, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon. Of course, April 23 makes a good birthday, because, in one of history's coincidences, today also marks the 392nd anniversary of Shakespeare's death in 1616.

The article in the Herald Sun concludes with this observation:

"There's plenty to celebrate in blowing out candles today remembering Shakespeare's birth in 1564. Even so, what did the Bard say on the passing of time? He left it to Macbeth: 'Out, out brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow.'"

Shakespeare's shadow thankfully looms large, and there's no extinguishing his influence. Here's to another 444 years of celebration.

Comments

[Rick Beato]

One of the best volumes of scholarship on the power and greatness of Shakespeare is Harold Bloom's SHAKESPEARE: THE INVENTION OF THE HUMAN. He suggests that the dramas are so radically different from earlier writings, so much more concerned with rounded characters and realistic reactions, that what we understand to be "normal" human reactions has been generated from the works of Shakespeare. Dr. Bloom most respects the characters of Falstaff and Hamlet, possibly the most complex and moving character in all literature. Bloom's more than 800 pages are riveting and valuable: when I retired from teaching English, I gifted a copy of the book to my former student, who now teaches what were my classes.