In the news today I found an article that began, “A JEWISH school tumbled down national league tables after pupils refused to answer questions on Shakespeare because they believed he was antisemitic.” A lengthier article on the same subject also sheds more light.

Read the articles, form your own opinions first. Were these students right to stand up for what they believe in this case? Or are they making a mountain out of a molehill? Do you think it’s a big deal? Some don’t even believe that Jews are presented negatively in the form of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, but that’s another story. Let’s make the same deduction that the students did for the moment.

I think if you believe something, the best thing you can do is stand up for it and accept whatever comes your way because of it. In this case, they didn’t get good scores on their standarized test.

Then again… what was the point? So Shakespeare may have been Anti-Semitic. I’m sure 90-something percent of England was at the time as well so shouldn’t they avoid all accounts of British history from that era? Shakespeare wasn’t too kind to blacks either, so how do we deal with that in this case?

I respect those students for voicing their opinion (and rebelling against a portion of standardized testing… I’m not a fan of those) but I don’t think avoiding Shakespeare – or any other author, historian, and artist, for that matter – because of their beliefs is really a good idea. Shakespeare may have been a writer “for all time,” but his ideas in many cases were a product of his time, and what he wrote appealed to his audience. I think that if we accept it as a product of its time there’s less chance of finding it offensive and more chance of moving on with our lives.

A version of Shakespeare’s 16th Century Globe Theatre in London as a 21st Century New Globe Theatre In New York. Sounds awesome! I just found out about The New Globe today and I’m really excited.

BUT! It’s just an idea at the moment and the idea needs more support. I won’t usually promote things like this on this website but I am a firm supporter of the arts and anything I can do to help – I will do. So check out the New Globe Campaign so that this cultural arts center can exist. Tell your friends too!

Unfortunately it’s not a new Shakespeare based mystery TV show that I’m making – not yet at least. If you’d like to see that, please click the “Donate” button in the sidebar and contribute several thousand dollars.

It was worth a shot, right?

“The Bard Files” is a new section of posts I’m adding to the site. This is the section where the real facts will be posted. The Word of the Day section will slowly grow into a nice Shakespearean glossary; the Bard Files will eventually be a good first stop when doing some research. My goal is to answer common questions about Shakespeare with research, unlike my rants and raves in other posts.

Do you have any questions? Something you’d like to see answered on the site so you don’t have to do your own research? Feel free to ask. For starters I’ll be checking Google’s most common Shakespeare related research searches, and writing my own article on the subject.

The first in the series is How Many Plays Did Shakespeare Write? You can probably guess what the article is about.

Enjoy!

The Bard Blog is a month old today. WOW! So much has been added already and there’s a billion more things to do. I have a long list of items to write about for every category in the sidebar. If you have any suggestions for something you’d like me to discuss I’d be glad to hear about, just let me know!

There are a lot of Shakespeare dictionaries and glossaries online and very few of them are any good. You’re best bet will always be a physical book. A Shakespeare Lexicon of some sorts, or the Oxford English Dictionary.

The new glossary page is by no means a substitute for those wonderful resources, I’m not even going to try. The glossary is a list of all the past Words of the day. In a long while from now it will become a long semi-comprehensive list that might be a good first place to look for some more challenging words, but don’t throw your dictionaries away! And be careful of some of those free online Shakespeare glossary pages. They’re usually not very complete, not always useful, and sometimes don’t have correct definition for the context you’re looking for.

All that aside, check out the page and enjoy!

There is no immediate significance to me choosing the word. It was a completely random selection. Or maybe it was fate. Who can tell for sure?

periapt (n.) IPA Pronunciation:
charm, amulet, talisman

JOAN
Now help, ye charming spells and periapts
- Henry VI, Part 1 (V.iii)

Joan? That’s not a Shakespearean name. Of course the character is Joan La Pucelle. Perhaps you’ve heard of her? Yes you have! She’s more commonly referred to as Joan of Arc. AHHHH! Now you remember…

The Bard Blog is growing! You can now link to this site at bardblog.com, so readers: update your bookmarks. Both of you. Also, the “Bard Blog Recommends” link on the sidebar can be easily reached by this easy to remember URL: http://bookstore.bardblog.com. I’ve also added the option of subscribing to an RSS feed of this site onto the side menu, if that’s how you prefer to get your news.

Tell your Shakespeare loving friends (what other kind can there be?) about this little page, I’m sure they’ll appreciate it to some degree. And if you don’t have Shakespeare-loving friends, send a link to this site to your Shakespeare-fearing enemies. But mostly your friends. The internet is for friendship.

In the links section I added something that say “Bard Blog Recommends…” which will take you to a mini store that has a bunch of recommended items related to Shakespeare. I will be slowly adding items to it as I review them, or remember that I haven’t added an item yet. Most are things I own.

So when you’re doing your Shakespeare shopping, you’ll have one convenient place to look with a bunch of good products.

Welcome to the Bard Blog. A new site for my own amusement, and for your education and edification. The site will be under construction for a little while, and will be continually updated with new information. Check back soon!