Next week is Shakespeare Week, a week dedicated to celebrating the legacy of poet and playwright William Shakespeare. Those who celebrate it seek to introduce people of all ages to Shakespeare’s works and foster a positive connection to the literary icon.
“Shakespeare, as we understand him in the Western canon, is one of the greats,” said Sydney Beuiner-Lucas, an English instructor who will be teaching LIT 303 – “Shakespeare’s Plays” – in the fall semester.
Focusing on the human experience, Shakespeare’s work spans multiple genres, from comedy and fantasy to tragedies and history.
“Shakespeare has coined so much of not just the English language, but of culture,” said junior English and Secondary Education major Madyn Allison. “I am so grateful I have had the opportunity to learn so much Shakespeare at SFU.”
His poetry touches on complex emotions, time, mortality and human relationships, while his plays explore human nature, political power, conflicts and the supernatural.
“Studying Shakespeare’s plays allows people to understand how you can spread out a story over the course of five acts,” said English Department Chair Brennan Thomas.
“You can see how a character’s choices lead to conflict, and how external conflicts can be exacerbated by certain kinds of factors or circumstances.”
While Shakespeare is best known today for plays such as “Romeo and Juliet” and “Macbeth,” he first gained popularity from his poetry. His narrative poem “Venus and Adonis” – published in 1593 – sparked his fame at a time when theatres were closed due to the plague.
“His work is at the pinnacle of storytelling and characterization,” said sophomore History and English major Reagan Vought. “It should be studied because it shows some of the most in-depth understanding of the human experience.”
During Shakespeare’s time, plays were seen as inferior to poetry. It wasn’t until after his poetry earned him recognition that his plays started to earn the public’s attention.
Shakespeare died in 1616, but the legacy he left behind through his writing carries on in literature classrooms and beyond.
