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This Week's Reading Assignment

This week, let's continue our journey through the late romances with Cymbeline. We're getting so close now -- just eight weeks to go -- and we're seeing the themes that interested Shakespeare near the...

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Discussion: Cymbeline

The play:CymbelineThe plot tweet: Plot-heavy self-parody concludes with reconciled lovers, reunited siblings, vanquished enemies and confessing villains. Happily ever after (except for Cloten).My...

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This Week's Reading Assignment

We are getting so close to the end now. After discussing Pericles and Cymbeline, let's continue our study of the late romances this week with The Winter's Tale. I'll see you at noon next Sunday!

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Discussion: The Winter's Tale

The play: The Winter's TaleThe plot tweet: Leontes' jealous rage = dead son, "dead" queen, banished daughter, 16 years of remorse. But, as a late romance, it ends with reunion, redemption.My favorite...

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This Week's Reading Assignment

We're almost there: Just a few collaborations, non-canonical works and The Tempest to go. This week, let's take a quick break from the plays and focus on the final remaining poem, "A Funeral Elegy."...

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Discussion: A Funeral Elegy

The poem:"A Funeral Elegy"My favorite line:When all shall turn to dust from whence we cameAnd we low-level'd in a narrow grave,What can we leave behind us but a name,Which, by a life well led, may...

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This Week's Reading Assignment

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for our final history play: Henry VIII: All is True.This is one of several plays for which Shakespeare allegedly collaborated with John Fletcher (along with Two Noble...

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Happy Birthday to the Real Shakespeare

Today is William Shakespeare's birthday--and, if you happen to live in Illinois, it's also Talk Like Shakespeare Day. This seems like a good day to remember that Shakespeare was a real, living,...

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Discussion: Henry VIII

The play:Henry VIII or All is TrueThe plot tweet: In idealized reign of Henry VIII, great people fall and Anne Boleyn gives birth to glorious future queen. No mention of upcoming beheading.My favorite...

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This Week's Reading Assignment

It's time this week for Shakespeare's other surviving collaboration with John Fletcher, The Two Noble Kinsmen. I've never read this play, but it's said to contain a more distinct Fletcherian style than...

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Discussion: The Two Noble Kinsmen

The play:The Two Noble KinsmenThe plot tweet: Two cousins fall for the same girl, defy prison and banishment to be with her. A duel decides it, but the gods have sneaky plans.My favorite line:This...

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This Week's Reading Assignment

We've read many plays wholly by Shakespeare and several plays partly by Shakespeare. This week, we're going to read a non-canonical play, i.e., a play whose Shakespearean authorship is questionable....

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A Monday Distraction

Look what my Google alert found: A sound clip of Alan Rickman reading Shakepeare's sonnet 130. Enjoy!

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Discussion: Edward III

The play:Edward IIIThe plot tweet: English battle both Scots and French; Edward takes a break to woo a married woman. Rejected, he heads to France, gives son a trial by fire.My favorite line: ... Shall...

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This Week's Reading Assignment

As we've seen, Edward III has a reasonable claim to Shakespearean authorship (at least in part). This week's play, Double Falsehood, is definitely not by Shakespeare, but it is allegedly based on the...

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Discussion: Double Falsehood

The play:Double FalsehoodThe plot tweet: Duke's son rapes Violante and woos friend Julio's love, Leonora. After botched wedding and some wandering, it ends with marriages all around.My favorite line:...

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This Week's Reading Assignment

I can hardly believe it: We have just two weeks remaining in the "Shakespeare in a Year" challenge, and just one Shakespeare play to go (The Tempest). Time flies when you're having fun!If you've done...

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A Monday Distraction

Want to feel good about what we've accomplished so far? Take a look at the Challenge Checklist. It's hard to believe we have just one play to go!

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Discussion: Contested Will

This weekend, I'm making my annual pilgrimage to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, one of the best classical theaters in North America. I am so madly in love with this place; one of these days I'm...

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This Week's Reading Assignment

(Drum roll, please.) Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the final week of the "Shakespeare in a Year" challenge. This week's adventure is, of course, The Tempest, which has traditionally been viewed...

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Stratford Shakespeare Festival: Merry Wives of Windsor

For several months, I've been withholding final judgment on Merry Wives of Windsor. Although I've recently seen productions at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, I...

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Discussion: The Tempest

The play:The TempestThe plot tweet: Marooned and usurped duke Prospero uses magic powers -- and Ariel's help -- to be "revenged" on his enemies and find husband for Miranda.My favorite line:My library...

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Why "Shakespeare in a Year" Matters

For weeks, I've been struggling with what to say in this "wrap up" post. After a year of Shakespeare immersion, I feel pressured to say something profound about what I've learned and how it has...

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Shakespeare at Mini University

This week, I'm at Mini University, an annual "lifelong learning" conference at Indiana University in Bloomington. We come to campus for a week, attending three different lectures each day from IU...

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Rounded with a Sleep

As you might have noticed, this blog has been dormant for a few months. I had a whirlwind summer of travel through England, where I saw some fantastic Shakespeare plays, and then did my usual tour of...

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