Welcome to the world of I Love Shakespeare? (YLS).
Or rather Why Love Shakespeare?
This commonplace blog serves as a commonplace book did for an Elizabethan. Primarily it preserves the knowledge YLS has collected by those others who love Shakespeare.
Shakespeare’s role in Early Modern England remains as important as his place in 21stC literature and theatre. Anyway you look at it, he was there at the start of that literature and theatre.
The top of the Blog homepage has a drop_down menu bar which contains pages dealing with:
1. Film Actor students read these posts
-1st year students
-2nd year students
2. Notes on Speaking Sonnets
3. Hear all the sonnets here
4. Navigating the YLS Blog
- Blog’s Wee manifesto
- A Paper titled ‘A Prosodic Odyssey: sorting the sonnets from page to stage’
5. Dates of the Printing of the Quarto
- Permutations of a Printed Copy
- Committing Sh to Print by David Kastan.
6. Poems about Shakespeare
-Poems about Language
7. Quiz on the opening lines of the Plays
- Quiz on the Sonnets
8. Shakespeare Basic References
- Meres Palladis Tamia Allusions
- Will Sh’s Last Will and Testament
- Will Sh’s Contemporaries found in Wikipedia
These same pages can be found on the left hand side of the blog homepage under BLOG PAGES
These are followed by the ARCHIVES. These posts are arranged by month. I will change them to categories soon.
The blogs are posted in the middle of the homepage. Duh!
There are 6 categories into which I post:
Based on Books
These books are the ones I feel I needed to read and maybe essential to my understanding of Sh’s work, life and times.
Each year the Academics produce hundreds of books and articles and papers and nobody could possibly ever (want to) read them all.
Play theory
These posts cover anything to do with specific Plays.
Sonnet theory
These posts cover anything to do with Sh’s Sonnets.
Conspiracy Theories Rebutted
These posts challenge the notion that anybody else wrote Shakespeare. Often tongue in cheek, often plain cheeky!
Musings
These posts are true blogs in that nothing of any particular consequence gets discussed. Simply YLS musing on some aspect of life or nature or art.
Performances of YLuvSh?
These posts tell of shows YLS performs. Sometimes they are accounts of other shows that deal with Shakespeare or his contemporaries.
The right hand side of the homepage starts with a list of the most recent posts. There are also plenty of links leading to others writings on and around our subject.
They are organised under the headings:
Elizabethan Grammar School
Here you can find the materials that Sh and his contemporaries used to understand reading and writing. The system used being Rhetoric.
LANG/LIT School
Here you can find modern materials about language and literature. I highly recommend Raglan’s breakdown of the Hero. The 5 min history of philosophy is fun too.
Look & Listen to WS
Here you can find links to a few of the films and projects William Sutton (YLS) has done in his chequered career! A Horror Film, a Music Video, a Stand-Up set, and a Recording of the Sonnets
Look and Listen to Others
Here you will find videos and films others have done relating to Shakespeare. I highly recommend the Celebrity Deathmatch; Comedian Mitch Benn’s Macbeth; and Patrick Stewart’s ‘B or not a b’ from Sesame Street. Amest I bovvered is sweet reverent irreverence.
Online Works of Shakespeare
Here you will find links to all the online versions of the Sonnets and his Poems; and the Collected Works of Shakespeare. I highly recommend Shakespeare’s Words by linguist David Crystal and the Meisei University’s First Folio collection!
Renaissance School
Here you will find information about the life and times of Shakespeare in the Renaissance period. I highly recommend John Stow’s Survey of London; and the multimedia tutorials at The English Renaissance in Context.
Scholarly Renaissance-related blogs
Here you will find a selection of blogs devoted to the Early modern period aka the Renaissance. Many further links will be found on the WESS Medieval and Renaissance Studies link.
Shakespeare Blogs
Here you will find links to a selection of the best the web has to offer in Shakespeare Blogs. DC Blog will answer all questions related to the language Shakespeare wrote in. Manga Shakspeare is represented too.
I highly recommend the Shakespeare Geek for all things new; the Shakespeare Post; and the comprehensive Mr William Shakespeare and the Internet.
Shakespeare Institutions
Here you will find several institutions organised to promote Sh. The German’s are the oldest, and SHINE represents the rest of Europe. The Dutch represent too. And of course the late comers are the Brits.
Shakespeare or SOMEONE ELSE?
Here you will find links to many pretenders to the throne of Shakespeare. And a strong defence against them. I highly recommend the Dinosaurs discussing shakespeare’s biography; and the Stromata blog; not to forget Dave Kathman’s authorship site.
Sonnet School
Here you will find links dealing with everything to do with Sonnets. I highly recommend the Performance Tips.
THEORY
Here you will find links to various films about THEORY. I highly recommend the ALI G interviews; and
‘Can the subaltern speak?’ by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak .
Various Alternative Blogs
Here you will find an odd assortment of links to other than shakespeare blogs. I highly recommend Botany Bill and the Poor Tom sites.
That said YLS tries not to pass on untruths about Shakespeare and his work and times. if you find a blatant untruth, and you are not a Conspiracist, please let me know by email:
iloveshakespeare at mac dot com
