Shakespeare’s Poetry and Sonnets….

Despite the fire alarm and the emergency exodus we had a profitable day exploring Shakespeare’s dramatic theories as argued and exemplified in his amazing Prologue to Henry V in which he calls to the heavens for a “Muse of Fire”!

Listen to the audio of this adventure below:

This was followed by a tutorial on one of Shakespeare’s last sonnets, No 146 “Poor Soul, centre of this sinful earth….. ”

A heated discussion-  in which Shakespeare challenges “Death” – followed. This is clearly one of Shakespeare’s most profound reflections on mortality and on the way we should lead our lives. Listen to the discussion here and view the image that was produced during our discussion.

Blog Topics Arising From Week 6;

*Write a prose or poetic answer to the Prologue to Henry V, in which you, as an actor tell the actor narrating the Prologue how you plan to respond in exactly the way he has asked you to do.

*Choose any one of the sonnets on the sonnet list in the slides from today’s lecture and work towards giving a clear and simple exposition of what you think the sonnet is saying.

*Take the first line of any one of the sonnets on the list and write your own sonnet using Shakespeare’s first line as your first line.

*Write a letter to Will Shakespeare telling him how much you appreciate his interests into human experience using any of the sonnets looked at today as a reference point.

*Basing your comments on our exploration of the Prologue to Henry V, write a blog on what you learned about Shakespeare’s message to the audience about how we should respond to his plays.