Engleski jezik 1 - Advanced Learning - Literature

Moći ću...

1 Shakespeare quiz

How much do you actually know about William Shakespeare? Play the quiz and find out.

2 Getting to know the author

Now, watch the video about William Shakespeare and select the correct answer.

3 Fill in

Read Shakespeare's biography. Fill in the missing words.

William Shakespeare was on or about 23rd April 1564 in a house in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon. The record of his still exists. He was baptised on 26th April.

Contrary to given in some of the older biographies, Shakespeare came from good middle-class on both sides. His mother’s name was Mary Arden, and she was one of the eight daughters of a farmer. His father, John Shakespeare, was a prosperous and respected tradesman, who took an active part in affairs.

William was the eldest son and third child of the marriage and took on several responsibilities, including helping his father.

One day while doing an for his father with his young brother Edmund, he stopped in the local to buy something. His brother in the mud and was helped to his feet by a young woman whose name was Anne Hathaway. She was a country girl who lived a few miles from Stratford in a little village Shottery. William and Anne soon fell in love and married in 1582.

They started their married in the family home in Henley Street, but unfortunately Anne it difficult to get on with her mother-in-law Mary. Mary had always thought that her son could have chosen a more wife.

After one year of marriage their daughter Susanna was born in May 1583 and not long after that William found a teaching job which him to rent a little cottage for himself and Anne. They moved in Christmas 1584 and in February 1585 Anne gave birth to twins, Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet was a weak baby and child and died at the age of eleven.

William had always been fascinated by travelling actors and more than once had been on the point of following them to London to is fortune. He, in fact, left when the twins were five and Susanna seven. He left his brother in charge of looking after his family and regularly sent money to them. He came back to visit, but most of his life living and working in London.

Having already invested money in property in London, in 1597 (one year after Hamnet's death) he New Place, one of the largest houses in Stratford. In 1610 he settled permanently there. By the standards of his day the poet was obviously .

In 1599 Shakespeare the Globe theatre. The first Globe was opened by a company Shakespeare was in - the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Many Shakespeare's were played at the Globe but it hosted other writers as well. In 1613, during Henry VII, the Globe down in an hour. The company built a new theatre in the place of the old one.

Shakespeare died at the of fifty-two on 23rd April 1616 and Anne in 1623. Their daughter Susanna married John Hall, a doctor and New Place was to their daughter Elizabeth, who married twice, but had any children. So Shakespeare's line came to an end with her death in 1670.

4 Sonnet 18

Read Sonnet 18 in its original version below. After reading, translate each line of William Shakespeare’s most famous sonnet into modern-day English in the slides. If you are unsure, take your best guess and check your spelling.

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 ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

            
                            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 ow'st;
                        
                            Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
                        
                            When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st;
                        
                            So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
                                          
                            So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

5 Write a sonnet

Read the paraphrased version of Sonnet 18. Change the parts in bold to write an original sonnet of your own.

Shall I compare you to a summer's day?
You are more lovely and more constant:
Rough winds shake the beloved buds of May
And summer is far too short:

At times the sun is too hot,
Or often goes behind the clouds;
And everything beautiful sometime will lose its beauty,
By misfortune or by nature's planned out course.

But your youth shall not fade,
Nor will you lose the beauty that you possess;
Nor will death claim you for his own,
Because in my eternal verse you will live forever.

So long as there are people on this earth,
So long will this poem live on, making you immortal.

6 What do you think?

What do you think of the original Sonnet 18? Talk about it. Follow the questions below:

Explain the theme and the mood of the sonnet.
Why does Shakespeare start the sonnet with a question?
What kind of a question is it?
How can the poet’s beloved be eternal?
Did you like the sonnet? Why?
Why not?