SHAKESPEARE ON THE BRAIN

Statue in Leicester Square, London

April 23rd marked the traditionally observed anniversary of Shakespeare's birth in 1564, as well as the date of his death in 1616.  The exact dates are in dispute by historians, just as the authorship of his plays is constantly under scrutiny by scholars.  In any case...

   

"Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart"...We owe quite a debt to the Bard for his contribution to the English language. Scholars credit him with the invention of more than 1,700 new words -- words and phrases that we hear and we use every day. Do these sound familiar: Dauntless, deafening, dishearten? Gloomy, gossip, green-eyed? Laughable, lonely, luggage? Madcap, majestic, monumental? Scuffle, swagger, and zany?

Famous Quotes:

The words and quotes of the William Shakespeare can be found everywhere! His quotations can be heard on the radio and television on a daily basis. Did you know that "What the dickens" was one of the quotes used by William Shakespeare, long before Charles Dickens was born? Other famous Shakespearean quotations such as "I'll not budge an inch", "We have seen better days" ,"A dish fit for the gods" are all used frequently and, almost as a parody, the expression it's "Greek to me" is often used to describe a frustrated student's view of Shakespeare's work! Politicians dig deep into their pool of William Shakespeare quotes and quotations such as "Fair Play", "Foregone Conclusion ", "One Fell Swoop", and "Into Thin Air ". Furthermore, other Shakespearean quotes such as "to thine own self be true" have become widely spoken pearls of wisdom. So quotes from William Shakespeare have now become household words and sayings - and just to emphasise the point "household word" is also one of the Bard's 'anonymous' quotations! (source:  www.william-shakespeare.info)

Why Shakespeare never fails to get brains buzzing:

Robert McCrum said this, in THE OBSERVER on guardian.co.uk, Sunday April 24 2011:

The magic that Shakespeare works with language is a commonplace of literary commentary, but it also answers to neurological analysis. Since 2006, Professor Philip Davis of Liverpool University has been studying the effects of Shakespeare on the human brain.

Using EEG and fMRI scanning techniques, Davis has been testing individual responses to some of the playwright's most daring innovations. "I had an intuition," he says, "that functional shifts of syntax in Shakespeare might have an impact on the pathways of the brain, which is an extraordinary internal theatre."

Davis will take a sentence, for example Albany's charge to Goneril in King Lear: "A father, and a gracious aged man... have you madded." This is an ungrammatical, highly energised compression. MRI scans suggest that it evokes a powerful neurological response. In the words of his collaborator Dr Guillaume Thierry: "The Shakespearean functional shift appears to prompt activation in the visual association cortex, ie in regions normally activated by visualisation; that is, the mind's eye."

Shakespeare and the Elizabethans loved to use language in new ways. Davis shows that this brilliance has a cerebral dividend. Lines such as Albany's, he says, are "a way of upping the attention level, what we might call the 'wow factor'". Subjecting Shakespeare to an MRI scan might seem an abstruse piece of scientific reduction, but it's an apt reminder that Shakespeare's language, like all great literature, is all about neural excitement.

 (read the whole article HERE)

SHAKESPEARE FOR KIDS?

For Reading...

TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE by Charles and Mary Lamb. (grades 6 and up) Product description: In the twenty tales told in this book, Charles & Mary Lamb succeeded in paraphrasing the language of truly adult literature in children’s terms. The Lambs provide a real feast of plain fare, and flavor it with as many tasty tidbits of Shakespearean language as they felt the young reader could easily digest. 

JUST FOR FUN-

You might want to check out Lois Burdett's series, SHAKESPEARE CAN BE FUN. (ages 7-12) To see excerpts from HAMLET, click HERE.  Though not at all pure Shakespeare verse, you might garner some fun ideas for your students/children from these books. ( The reading of them probably won't match the fun her elementary students had in creating them.) Her titles, illustrated by the students and resulting from an intensive project she did with them, include:

A CHILD'S PORTRAIT OF SHAKESPEARE

HAMLET; ROMEO AND JULIET; A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM; MACBETH; MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING; TWELFTH NIGHT; THE TEMPEST

For Listening... (to read my past post about JIM WEISS, click HERE)

Jim Weiss Storytelling: ROMEO AND JULIET (ages 8-Adult)

Jim Weiss Storytelling SHAKESPEARE FOR CHILDREN (A Midsummer Night's Dream &Taming of the Shrew, ages 8-Adult)

For browsing...

Fun website for kids from FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY

JIM WEISS, STORYTELLER EXTRAORDINAIRE

When storyteller Jim Weiss steps onto a stage, he shows up with only his voice - no costumes or props, just stories, with a wide range of characters. His voice is soothing and spellbinding; he has no trouble holding kids' - and adults' - attention! We came across his recordings (cassette tapes, then) back in the '90's, through our homeschooling connections. We bought several, and they were great to listen to on summer road trips. Our kids were entranced!

Mr. Weiss and his wife started their own company, Great Hall Productions, in 1989 and to date have produced over 43 storytelling recordings! You can navigate their website and not only find the CD recordings grouped by age listening level, but also hear samples of each recorded story. www.greathall.com/aboutus.html

Our favorite Jim Weiss story recordings included:

ARABIAN NIGHTS (ages 6 and up)

SHE & HE: ADVENTURES IN MYTHOLOGY (ages 6 and up)

SHERLOCK HOLMES (ages 8 and up)

I see that one of his newest recordings is CARRY ON, MR. BOWDITCH (unabridged, ages 8 and up). A Newberry winner, the book is based on the the real life of Nathanael Bowditch, inventor of a new method for sea navigation: lunar reckoning. The story is set during the American Revolution, and is a touching biography of a worthy hero. I read this book to my kids, but I wish we would have had this recording!

You can order (and listen to samples) on the Greathall Production website (above), Amazon, or from one of my favorite resources, Chinaberry: www.chinaberry.com/col.cfm/pgc/30000/sbc/30047/va/1