an actor from Los Angeles walks into a
working class bar in the Midwest and
strikes up a conversation with two
factory workers mmm the intellectual
urban elite meets middle America on a
barstool what happens in this case and
this is a true story from Winona
Minnesota our actor convinces the two
factory workers to come see The Winter’s
Tale at the Great River Shakespeare
Festival now I don’t know if The
Winter’s Tale is the ideal choice for
someone that has never seen a play by
Shakespeare before but that’s what they
see and the next night in the bar they
talk about jealousy what does it feel
like when you’re jealous of your wife
how do you get stuck in that feeling and
how do you get back out looked at from
the outside these three men appear to
have nothing in common and yet here they
are having an intimate conversation
they’re discovering each other’s
humanity they are learning about
themselves from an unexpected source
they are building a community why did
that happen it would be easy enough for
me to say that these are just three
unique individuals and that would be
true but I’m going to also suggest that
encountering a great work of art like a
play by William Shakespeare encourages
us to explore the world in a different
way
it invites us to be truly present in the
moment that experience causes us to
think differently I’d like to give you a
little taste of why that’s true and I
would like to do it using one sonnet by
William Shakespeare shall I compare thee
to a summers day now a sonnet starts
with a thesis statement so I know what
you’re thinking thesis statement that’s
high school English the five paragraph
essay thesis statement three paragraphs
to explain it and then a conclusion I
tell you what I think I give you three
reasons why I think and then I tell you
what I think that is not
sonot is a five paragraph essay
encourages you to state your belief and
then dig in your heels and defend it a
sonnet is an exploration of an idea that
allows not just the possibility of
change but in its very structure assumes
that something will be different at the
end than at the beginning a five
paragraph essay is a report on having
grappled with an idea in the past a
sonnet is the exploration itself
Shakespeare writes the way we speak more
importantly he writes the way we think
one idea follows the next so a sonnet
begins with a question shall I compare
thee to a summers day when we work on
Shakespeare we often paraphrase to
uncover what we might have missed I
can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard
that sentence paraphrased as you are
more beautiful than a summers day we are
so used to hearing definite statements
that sometimes we miss the question and
when we miss the question we miss the
opportunity to explore we miss the
opportunity to discover we miss the
possibility of change that is a question
with more than one answer shall I
compare thee to a summers day oh
definitely not
and then we wouldn’t get the sonnet
shall I compare thee to a summers day
yes yes I will but if I’m William
Shakespeare I’m going to make that
comparison as honestly and as completely
as I can thou art more lovely and more
temperate all right Shakespeare wrote
sonnets to get girls or boys or both we
don’t actually know so I understand
lovely but temperate I love my wife but
what I say honey you are not super
exciting but you’re not totally boring
either you are right there in the middle
you are that tepid cup of tea you are
temperate it’s an honest comparison you
are more temperate than a summers day
but in our honesty we have accidentally
uncut
what we truly believe about the world
and we’ve offended the person that we
love that is a question with more than
one answer shall I compare the that is a
question that that every line of verse
pre presents a problem that is answered
by the next line of verse every line of
verse is the opportunity for a discovery
that creates the opportunity for the
next discovery every line of verse is a
question temperate rough winds do shake
the Darling Buds of May if you’ve got
the buds in May and a storm comes along
and blows them off you don’t get the
fruit it is a good thing to be temperate
but that creates its own question may
why are you talking about May because
summers lease hath all too short a date
there isn’t time for another bud to grow
Shakespeare’s one of the great writers
in the English language but he made as
much or more of his money from real
estate so Shakespeare understands what a
lease is you don’t own something you
lease you’ll get to borrow it but you
don’t even get to borrow it for as long
as you want it is a contract with an end
date you will lose it someday now that’s
going to create another problem that
will deal with in just a minute
sometime too hot the eye of heaven
shines so the eye of heaven is the Sun
sometime not grammatically correct in
Shakespeare’s time but we’re talking
about the idea of time sometime too hot
the eye of heaven shines and often is
his gold complexion dimm’d
well they certainly understand fog in
London and every fair from fair sometime
declines fair is a tricky word in
Shakespeare’s time when applied to a
woman it means she is beautiful because
her skin is of a light color now that is
obviously racist and sexist but fair is
also a bigger word than that a law can
be fair the winds can be fair our price
can be fair we can have fair companions
Fair is that quality in anything that
makes it worthy of love we love a fair
we love a fair law because it’s just
fair winds carry us to our destination
quickly but without destroying us we
love a fair price because it’s good for
both sides our companions are fair when
they are generous and engaging and when
applied to a woman or a man it means
someone who is gracious and truthful
someone who is worthy of our love
Shakespeare loved but just seven lines
into a poem about a summer’s day
following one thought to another he has
accidentally uncovered one of our
greatest existential fears everything we
love will die
everything we love will disappear from
this world every fair from fair sometime
declines by chance or nature’s changing
course untrimmed and Shakespeare cannot
stand it but neither can the sonnet it
is very structure it assumes that
something will be different at the end
than at the beginning and we have
arrived at what we call the turn but thy
eternal summer shall not fade nor lose
possession of that fair thou owest nor
shall death brag thou wand’rest in his
shade ok now wait a minute Shakespeare
everything dies that is the nature of
reality there is no other possibility
but Shakespeare has explored the
question fully completely honestly and
when he is left with no possible
solution that he can accept he has no
choice but to attempt the impossible
when in eternal lines to time thou
grow’st us the eternal lines of a poem
so I’m William Shakespeare
I haven’t written my most famous plays
yet I’m a somewhat well-known playwright
but the theaters are closed because of
the plague so I’m wandering around the
countryside trying to make ends meet and
I am in love and I cannot stand that
that love will disappear from the world
so I say I know I will write a poem and
when this poem is spoken out loud the
love that I feel will live in this world
for one more minute and people will
speak this poem forever it is an
impossible plan except that it worked we
breathe in order to live for the
Elizabethans when we breathe back out in
order to speak language that is our life
force going out in the world because we
are breathing to speak and to hear this
poem today the love that Shakespeare
felt 400 years ago lives in this room
for one more minute we don’t know who
this poem was written to we don’t know
if it was a man or a woman but we know
that Shakespeare loved and we know that
like any of us that have truly and
deeply loved he cannot stand that that
love would disappear from the world but
we know that everything dies that is the
nature of reality but Shakespeare is an
artist and an artist doesn’t always care
about the nature of reality and
sometimes in the moment-to-moment
exploration of the world an unexpected
solution presents itself maybe just
maybe a poem can defy death itself
maybe the impossible can become possible
shall I compare thee to a summers day
thou art more lovely and more temperate
rough winds do shake the Darling Buds of
May and summers lease hath all too short
a date sometime too hot the eye of
heaven shines
and often is his gold complexion dimmed
and every fair from fair sometime
declines by chance or nature’s changing
course untrimmed but thy eternal summer
shall not fade nor lose possession of
that fair thou owest nor shall death
brag thou wand’rest in his shade when in
eternal lines to time thou grow’st us we
need this we need to learn to be fully
present with each other we need to speak
and to listen to each other in a way
that allows the possibility of change we
need art so long as men can breathe and
eyes can see so long lives this and this
gives life to thee
thank you
you
working class bar in the Midwest and
strikes up a conversation with two
factory workers mmm the intellectual
urban elite meets middle America on a
barstool what happens in this case and
this is a true story from Winona
Minnesota our actor convinces the two
factory workers to come see The Winter’s
Tale at the Great River Shakespeare
Festival now I don’t know if The
Winter’s Tale is the ideal choice for
someone that has never seen a play by
Shakespeare before but that’s what they
see and the next night in the bar they
talk about jealousy what does it feel
like when you’re jealous of your wife
how do you get stuck in that feeling and
how do you get back out looked at from
the outside these three men appear to
have nothing in common and yet here they
are having an intimate conversation
they’re discovering each other’s
humanity they are learning about
themselves from an unexpected source
they are building a community why did
that happen it would be easy enough for
me to say that these are just three
unique individuals and that would be
true but I’m going to also suggest that
encountering a great work of art like a
play by William Shakespeare encourages
us to explore the world in a different
way
it invites us to be truly present in the
moment that experience causes us to
think differently I’d like to give you a
little taste of why that’s true and I
would like to do it using one sonnet by
William Shakespeare shall I compare thee
to a summers day now a sonnet starts
with a thesis statement so I know what
you’re thinking thesis statement that’s
high school English the five paragraph
essay thesis statement three paragraphs
to explain it and then a conclusion I
tell you what I think I give you three
reasons why I think and then I tell you
what I think that is not
sonot is a five paragraph essay
encourages you to state your belief and
then dig in your heels and defend it a
sonnet is an exploration of an idea that
allows not just the possibility of
change but in its very structure assumes
that something will be different at the
end than at the beginning a five
paragraph essay is a report on having
grappled with an idea in the past a
sonnet is the exploration itself
Shakespeare writes the way we speak more
importantly he writes the way we think
one idea follows the next so a sonnet
begins with a question shall I compare
thee to a summers day when we work on
Shakespeare we often paraphrase to
uncover what we might have missed I
can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard
that sentence paraphrased as you are
more beautiful than a summers day we are
so used to hearing definite statements
that sometimes we miss the question and
when we miss the question we miss the
opportunity to explore we miss the
opportunity to discover we miss the
possibility of change that is a question
with more than one answer shall I
compare thee to a summers day oh
definitely not
and then we wouldn’t get the sonnet
shall I compare thee to a summers day
yes yes I will but if I’m William
Shakespeare I’m going to make that
comparison as honestly and as completely
as I can thou art more lovely and more
temperate all right Shakespeare wrote
sonnets to get girls or boys or both we
don’t actually know so I understand
lovely but temperate I love my wife but
what I say honey you are not super
exciting but you’re not totally boring
either you are right there in the middle
you are that tepid cup of tea you are
temperate it’s an honest comparison you
are more temperate than a summers day
but in our honesty we have accidentally
uncut
what we truly believe about the world
and we’ve offended the person that we
love that is a question with more than
one answer shall I compare the that is a
question that that every line of verse
pre presents a problem that is answered
by the next line of verse every line of
verse is the opportunity for a discovery
that creates the opportunity for the
next discovery every line of verse is a
question temperate rough winds do shake
the Darling Buds of May if you’ve got
the buds in May and a storm comes along
and blows them off you don’t get the
fruit it is a good thing to be temperate
but that creates its own question may
why are you talking about May because
summers lease hath all too short a date
there isn’t time for another bud to grow
Shakespeare’s one of the great writers
in the English language but he made as
much or more of his money from real
estate so Shakespeare understands what a
lease is you don’t own something you
lease you’ll get to borrow it but you
don’t even get to borrow it for as long
as you want it is a contract with an end
date you will lose it someday now that’s
going to create another problem that
will deal with in just a minute
sometime too hot the eye of heaven
shines so the eye of heaven is the Sun
sometime not grammatically correct in
Shakespeare’s time but we’re talking
about the idea of time sometime too hot
the eye of heaven shines and often is
his gold complexion dimm’d
well they certainly understand fog in
London and every fair from fair sometime
declines fair is a tricky word in
Shakespeare’s time when applied to a
woman it means she is beautiful because
her skin is of a light color now that is
obviously racist and sexist but fair is
also a bigger word than that a law can
be fair the winds can be fair our price
can be fair we can have fair companions
Fair is that quality in anything that
makes it worthy of love we love a fair
we love a fair law because it’s just
fair winds carry us to our destination
quickly but without destroying us we
love a fair price because it’s good for
both sides our companions are fair when
they are generous and engaging and when
applied to a woman or a man it means
someone who is gracious and truthful
someone who is worthy of our love
Shakespeare loved but just seven lines
into a poem about a summer’s day
following one thought to another he has
accidentally uncovered one of our
greatest existential fears everything we
love will die
everything we love will disappear from
this world every fair from fair sometime
declines by chance or nature’s changing
course untrimmed and Shakespeare cannot
stand it but neither can the sonnet it
is very structure it assumes that
something will be different at the end
than at the beginning and we have
arrived at what we call the turn but thy
eternal summer shall not fade nor lose
possession of that fair thou owest nor
shall death brag thou wand’rest in his
shade ok now wait a minute Shakespeare
everything dies that is the nature of
reality there is no other possibility
but Shakespeare has explored the
question fully completely honestly and
when he is left with no possible
solution that he can accept he has no
choice but to attempt the impossible
when in eternal lines to time thou
grow’st us the eternal lines of a poem
so I’m William Shakespeare
I haven’t written my most famous plays
yet I’m a somewhat well-known playwright
but the theaters are closed because of
the plague so I’m wandering around the
countryside trying to make ends meet and
I am in love and I cannot stand that
that love will disappear from the world
so I say I know I will write a poem and
when this poem is spoken out loud the
love that I feel will live in this world
for one more minute and people will
speak this poem forever it is an
impossible plan except that it worked we
breathe in order to live for the
Elizabethans when we breathe back out in
order to speak language that is our life
force going out in the world because we
are breathing to speak and to hear this
poem today the love that Shakespeare
felt 400 years ago lives in this room
for one more minute we don’t know who
this poem was written to we don’t know
if it was a man or a woman but we know
that Shakespeare loved and we know that
like any of us that have truly and
deeply loved he cannot stand that that
love would disappear from the world but
we know that everything dies that is the
nature of reality but Shakespeare is an
artist and an artist doesn’t always care
about the nature of reality and
sometimes in the moment-to-moment
exploration of the world an unexpected
solution presents itself maybe just
maybe a poem can defy death itself
maybe the impossible can become possible
shall I compare thee to a summers day
thou art more lovely and more temperate
rough winds do shake the Darling Buds of
May and summers lease hath all too short
a date sometime too hot the eye of
heaven shines
and often is his gold complexion dimmed
and every fair from fair sometime
declines by chance or nature’s changing
course untrimmed but thy eternal summer
shall not fade nor lose possession of
that fair thou owest nor shall death
brag thou wand’rest in his shade when in
eternal lines to time thou grow’st us we
need this we need to learn to be fully
present with each other we need to speak
and to listen to each other in a way
that allows the possibility of change we
need art so long as men can breathe and
eyes can see so long lives this and this
gives life to thee
thank you
you
Please follow and like us: