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Show William Shakespeare Without him it would all be for naught William Shakespeare is usually considered the greatest dramatist the world has known, as well as the finest poet who has written in the English language. No other writer's plays have been produced so many times in so many countries, and no poet's verse has been so widely read in so many different lands. His works have been translated into more languages than any book in the world except the Bible. Thousands upon thousands of books and articles have been written about Shakespeare and his works. One famous library has more than fifteen thousand volumes of editions of his plays and poems alone. These do not include the thousands of books published about the man and his work. Such unequalled popularity is convincing proof of Shakespeare's Shakes-peare's influence on millions of theatre goers and readers. Other men of letters have also testified to his greatness. great-ness. Johann Goethe, the great German writer, said, "I do not remember that any book or any person or event in my life ever made so great an impression on me as the plays of Shakespeare." Thomas Carlyle, the English essayist, once said, "I think the best judgement not of this country alone, but of Europe at - tm . .:"- v$&f i r 3. 34,i IT a thieves flowed with equal ease. Learned men, such as Prospero, the stupid yokels, like William in As You Like It, speak as such persons would speak. Many lines spoken by Shakespearean characters are such exact statements of the feeling which many men have experienced, that they are quoted again and again. A large number of expressive ex-pressive words and phrases from the plays have passed into the language and area used today by millions of persons who have no idea that Shakespeare created them. Such daily, unconscious tributes to Shakespeare's greatness by persons who speak of the "king's English", of "catching'1 a cold", of "disgraceful conduct", of a "foregone conclusion", of "elbowroom", or of "fair play", prove that he has made a deep impression not only on scholars, authors, and theatregoers, but also on every person who speaks the English language. One of the most lasting impressions im-pressions which Shakespeare has made on civilization is one which is usually forgotten. It is his influence on the English language as it is used today. When Shakespeare wrote his plays, there were no English grammars or dictionaries, no accepted standards of spelling or grammar of pronunciations. large, is slowly pointing to the conclusion that Shakespeare is the chief of all poets hitherto; the greatest intellect who, in our recorded world, has left record of himself in the way of literature." Among the many literart giants who have testified to the joy and wonder they have felt before Shakespeare's immortal creations are John Milton, John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Joseph Addison, Samuel Johnson, John Keats, Lord Byron, Charles Lamb, Samuel Coleridge, Sir Walter Scott, Robert Browning, Ralph Waldo Emerson, James Russell Lowell, and Walt Whitman. Famous men of different dif-ferent ages and nations have paid so many thousands of tributes to Shakespeare that several an-thrologies an-thrologies have been prepared to give samplings of them. One of the reasons for Shakespeare's world-wide appeal is the number and variety of seamanship, the Bible, military science, the stage, art, politics, hisotry, psychology, hunting, woodcraft, animal husbandry, and sports. This knowledge is so wide and accurate that lawyers have tried to prove Shakespeare must have been a lawyer, and sailors have argued that he must have had experience at sea. Yet as far as his life is known, it shows no professional experience in any field other than the theatre. Evidently he had a remarkable ability to pick up miscellaneous information and to use it accurately. He could listen to sailor's talk and then write a sea scene as full of detailed information in-formation as in Scene I in The Tempest. Perhaps the most amazing quality of Shakespeare's genius is his unequalled mastery of the English language. From his pen, the words of kings and the talk of Well-educated men spelled the same word in different ways, and often pronounced it differently. They used grannatical forms which are not allowed today, such as "more braver,", "more hotter," "perfecter," "per-fectest," "per-fectest," "as tall as me," "to who". The exact meaning of many words as unsettled as grammar and spelling, and there were no English words for many ideas which are taken for granted today. New words and new expressions ex-pressions were being taken from other languages or invented for the English language. When the language was in such a state of development, it could be influence in-fluence for good or bad more easily than it can now. It is very fortunate that at such a time a writer with Shakespeare's sensitive ear and brilliant gift of phrase was writing plays which became popular. - Ik, & J . TV V characters he created. They include persons of all types, who came from all walks of life. Shakespeare understood his characters so deeply and presented them so vividly that for many readers they have become more real than some of the living men about them. Pickpockets Pick-pockets and kings, fools, country bumpkins, and court ladies, drunkards, dandies, stablemen, generals, lovesick girls, and hired murderers all spring to life in his plays. To many people Hamlet, Falstaff, and King Lear seem far more real than historical figures like Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon. Shakespeare's incomparable creative power is one of the great features of his genius. It cannot be explained, but critics agree that behind it lies a wide acquaintence with men and women of all types in the bustling London of the time of Queen Elizabeth I. Another characteristic of Shakespeare is his amazing knowledge of a wide variety of subjects-music, the law, AT FESTIVAL. Pre-show dancers add their charm to the Utah Shakespearean Festival scheduled to open July 11. COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION. Community minstrels add to pre-play pre-play festivities. |