I love thee to the depth and breadth and height to some of the most memorable lines ever penned, such as these from an enduring sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Love poems have ranged from the silly and cute. That’s unlikely to change as long as humans have hearts that beat, eyes that gleam, and glands that sweat.
It remains a favorite subject of thinkers and poets. But many, many more have shared the roller-coaster, pitter-pat, and clammy palms of first love and love-at-first-sight.
Many others have shared the heartache of lost love. Some writers have chronicled the comfort of long-lasting love, and the love of family and friends. But it’s a little hard to tell whether this wise man was giving a thumbs up to love’s inspiration or getting grumpy about the sometimes silly words love inspires. That’s the observation of Plato, the legendary philosopher of Ancient Greece. Want even more Shakespeare? You can find more on his affinity for insults and views on dating in other great TED-Ed lessons! And if you want more TED, then seek out Steven Pinker on what we learn from the words we use and Stephen Burt on Why People Need Poetry.Love Poems “At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.” If your school doesn’t participate, then start a movement to make it happen! If all of this wordplay makes you want to get up on your feet and speak the words, you should research the English Speaking Union’s National Shakespeare Competition – an annual recitation competition featuring some of Shakespeare’s greatest speeches. And if you’re wondering how the bard stacks up with modern MC’s (beyond their affinity for “ swagger”), then check out this NPR feature about the number of unique words used by modern wordsmiths. You can watch a fantastic TED Talk by Akala from TedxAldeburgh that explores some of the links between Shakespeare and Hip-Hop. The Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company explores that connection through events, workshops and many other media. This has led many people to draw connections between the bard and a popular modern form of poetry: hip-hop.
You’ve seen some of the similarities between Shakespeare’s meter and music. Just how many times does the world “blood” show up in Macbeth? If it’s the words themselves that grab you, take a plunge down the rabbit hole of Open Source Shakespeare: a beautiful marriage of the bard and technology that allows you to search every poem and play Shakespeare ever wrote for individual words and phrases. His sonnets feature a specific format that uses iambic pentameter to reflect great meaning and emotion in a short burst of verse. Most famously, he penned 154 sonnets that are often as studied and celebrated as his plays. While interesting to explore in his plays, the idea of Shakespeare as a poet isn’t new.
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