Thursday, January 5, 2012

The Classics Challenge January Prompt

So here's how (I think) this works: Every month Katherine puts up a bunch of questions for us to answer on our blogs about the classic we are currently reading or have just finished reading. Just like you would do in any blog hop. Only here, there are three different levels of questions to choose from, based on how much of the book you have read. This month's focus is on the Author. I picked Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream as my first classic. I'm almost done reading it but I'm going to stick with the level 1 questions because this is after all Shakespeare Reading Month and I'll probably be going on about him quite a bit in the days to come so i'll start easy here. I'm sure Shakespeare is an auspicious start  to my blogging in 2012.

Who is the author? 
William Shakespeare

What do they look like?

Where did they live?

Stratford-upon-Avon was where he was born and raised. He spent his short retirement here and eventually died here. Most of his working life,however, was spent  in London.

Shakespeare's Birthplace

What does their handwriting look like?
Although no substantiated documents in his handwriting have survived, here is what his signature (is supposed to have) looked like.



What are some of the other novels they've written? 

Phew! that would be a long list. Shakespeare has written 38 plays154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. Some of his most famous play's are Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and King Lear.

What is an interesting and random fact about their life?

Shakespeare never published any of his plays. All of his plays were published after his death.

My post about A Midsummer Night's Dream should be up in a couple of days. I hope you'll drop in then.

13 comments:

  1. Oh I love A Midsummer's Night Dream! Can't wait to hear/read your thoughts.

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  2. Awesome post!! Also, Ha! That handwriting is hilarious. :D

    I love his house. It looks so... village-like. Quaint. I so want to visit it, one day. :)

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  3. Judaye now that I've read it, I can see why you'd love it. me too :)

    Jillian I did visit his house, also Anne Hathaway's and I have to say I was quite underwhelmed. Mostly because it was really crowded and noisy that day. I probably just picked a bad day to visit.

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  4. I love Shakespeare!Antony and Cleopatra is my all time favorite. Great post!

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  5. Dana glad you liked the post. Thanks for stopping by.

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  6. I'm enjoying taking part in Shakespeare month. Learning lots about Shakespeare himself from everyone's posts too. You should link this to the challenge Shakespeare page. I'm sure Allie wouldn't mind and that others wouldn't want to read it. Love your new blog look.

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  7. Thanks Karen. Glad you like the new look.

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  8. Thank you for joining us, Che! I'm also taking part of Allie's Shakespeare reading month. I'm going to read The Tempest.

    A Midsummer Night's Dream is very funny. I've read it and seen the play-- but my favorite is the ballet Balanchine choreographed based on it. :) Looking forward to your post on it.

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  9. That is the strangest handwriting I've ever seen!
    The problem of noise and crowds is always there when visiting these places. I always wish I could just go and it all to myself.
    Midsummer's Night Dream is a great choice to start the year. Enjoy!

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  10. I'm participating in the Shakespeare read-along as well. I might also focus on him for the January prompt as I just finished Bill Bryson's biography. All of the mystery surrounding Shakespeare's life is definitely intriguing.
    Cheers,
    Nicki

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  11. Katherine this challenge is a great idea. I'm glad I decided to join in.

    Cat It is strange isn't it? wonder how anyone made sense of his handwritten plays :)

    Everybookandcranny I love the name :)

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  12. Yes, I'm wondering if that was some kind of typical handwriting for that time? Thanks for the post and I'll look forward to reading more about him!

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  13. I love the Bard - Macbeth is my favourite. :)
    Here's myClassics Challenge post on Anne Brontë

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