Tag Archives: Folger Shakespeare Library

Celebrating Shakespeare and Purcell with the Orchestra of the Swan

Stratford-upon-Avon’s own chamber orchestra, the Orchestra of the Swan, is currently celebrating Shakespeare’s 450th anniversary by performing four concerts of music inspired by his work. The first concert, last Friday, included the lovely orchestral suite written by Henry Purcell for … Continue reading

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Thomas Nast’s The Immortal Light of Genius

Browsing Julia Thomas’s book Shakespeare’s Shrine recently, I came across a reference to a painting created at the height of Shakespeare worship. By Thomas Nast, it was entitled “The Immortal Light of Genius”, commissioned by the great actor Henry Irving … Continue reading

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Shakespeare’s sonnets

I’ve only occasionally written in this blog about Shakespeare’s Sonnets, and then mostly about possible biographical references in them, for instance to Anne Hathaway or to the death of his son Hamnet. These are hard to avoid: for hundreds of … Continue reading

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Cabinets of curiosity: Shakespeare’s the Thing

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, has just opened a new exhibition to celebrate the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. Called Shakespeare’s the Thing, the library is sharing “some of our favourite things” from their famous collections. Curated by … Continue reading

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E-Learning and the use of digital resources

Enabling the study of  Shakespeare, especially by making available resources to students of all kinds was the focus of my professional life as a librarian working at The Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive. But over the past year I’ve become … Continue reading

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Telling a book by its cover

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll have noticed that among my interests are early books and internet resources as well as Shakespeare. I’ve just become aware  of a group of linked resources which bring together people who spend their lives … Continue reading

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Shakespeare’s sisters

We’re used to the idea that in the early modern period women were seen as intellectually inferior to men. Denied the educational opportunities afforded to their brothers, girls learned only the rudiments of reading and writing. And with their lives … Continue reading

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Making the majestic clear? Updating Shakespeare for the 21st century

So what is more important: clarity of meaning, or poetry? Mike LoMonico recently wrote a post for the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Education blog challenging the often-voiced opinion that Shakespeare’s plays are now so difficult to understand that they should be … Continue reading

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More about Shakespeare and the King James bible

You can’t have missed the fact that 2011 marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible. Many of the events and articles celebrating this milestone have made the connection with Shakespeare as the KJ Bible was … Continue reading

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Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man in glass

Glass is the most mysterious of substances, translucent yet intensely colourful, hard but fragile and easily broken. A friend has just celebrated the first firing of her new glass kiln, and over the weekend a group of us crowded into … Continue reading

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