This channel is dedicated to sharing information and knowledge around the performance and analysis of the works of William Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
Formerly the base channel for @smallcrownproductions which is now on a new channel housing the specific production work of the company.
For theatre based entertainment check out our new channel Theatre in a Minute: ru-vid.com/show-UC4GxzrZginkTdjqNswpCEfA
Yes Iambic pentameter is crazy difficult. Then the question is why should one even try to learn such things, when Sam Altman and friends have already made writers obsolete. When machines can work with syllables a thousand times better than I can.
Yeah excellent point. The modern technology is certainly shifting the needle on the commoditised nature of tasks. I think, like anything, it is the choice between outcome and journey, and the skills you actually need or want. If you just want something written and don't feel the need to know the process or the have the joy / satisfaction of having devised and written in it full yourself then an AI Writer is a perfect tool. I feel that there is great learning to be had through the doing, so if you are someone that wants to perfect your skills in the form then it is worth working through the process to improve that. The LLM's can be an excellent support in learning too. Having them explain how it devised what it writes is super interesting to explore as well. Why did it choose that metaphor, those words etc to get a direct back and forth on devising. It isn't perfect but will definitely be a big help to some. So I guess it depends on what the outcome is that you want / need.
Henslowe's Diary is an excellent source for first hand information about how some of the "Shakespeare" plays were written (but look for an annotated transcript).
5 years ago I was researching Henry Hudson (~1565 to ~1611). No birth records, baptism, training, early years, middle years; just the voyages and his wife and three boys (with no birth records). I expanded by 1607 London person by person -- Richard Haklyut, Robert Juet, Emanuel von Meteren, Dr John Dee, on and on. Exploration and navigation was a big genre for early English printing. That world was VERY small -- >25 master printers with less than 60 presses. There is a lot of overlap between books and boats. Hudson final voyage had 4 writers on board. Drake had writers begging to go with him but the Queen denied them permission to leave England. It is a fascinating era and very formative and pivotal for all in present Anglophone sphere. I recommend not putting much stock in Shakespeare biographies UNTIL you look at some of the better documented people from the same era. Things are very commonly asserted about Shakespeare for which there is either no evidence or there is evidence to the contrary. We all want to say nice things about Shakespeare but our understanding of not just the works but the entire era get distorted by some of the suprelative biographiction which dominates Shakespeare biography. Highly inventive yet presented in an overly confident manner. The good news is once you get away from Shake bios there is very good stuff. Truth is always more interesting than fiction. Sir Walter Raleigh -- is a good one to start with. Misunderstood, complex, gets in trouble. Well documented. Solid nonfiction. Dr John Dee -- avoid the more sensationalistic stuff of which there is much and you will find a guy who acts as a kind of Rosetta stone to the era. I'm working my way through the catalog of books that we know were in his library. Feel lucky to be living in an era when we can get digital access to the library of a 16th century "wizard." Henslowe's diary / log -- primary source. Shows how the theater business really worked, who was writing, what plays were popular. Henry Hudson -- try "God's Mercies" for one of the best narrative nonfiction reads on any subject. Mostly about the fatal 1611 voyage plus some great Phillip Sydney -- gentleman poet
Reading "Shakespeare's Metrical Art" George T. Wright, I realized that there were whole periods where poets we've never heard of (all those boring sods between Chaucer Ben Johnson) who just seemed to overthink everything. Most hit pop songs seem to be either trochee or iambic. I'm not sure if the writers of those songs were actually consciously using one or the other. I think it was mostly by ear, intuitive. Sometimes they'd fix a metrical problem in the studio with a change in the music. Definitely not overthinking it. They've fixed a problem they heard but couldn't pinpoint, creatively fixed it in a way that listeners would never forget. I just read a list of things a friend told me she likes, almost all in trochee, a few bumps...which of course do not matter; indication she did it all by ear. Then she quoted My Favorite Things, from the Sound of Music which is iambic... Hmmm..... I've already asked her. Waiting for a reply. The important questions are: Why did Shakespeare use mostly iambic and trochee? How did he use them? I have the general feeling that trochee asserts, iambic implores empathy. When he switches to trochee it's like a musical change that highlights the shift in emotion. Also, how can we better employ these meters? Of course we should read our drafts out loud, because then we can hear the meter even if we aren't consciously using it. (It has long been said) It's been long said (better?) that the English language naturally tends to be iambic or trochee. Boring speakers seem to use neither. (Any regularly scheduled meeting.) I think Indian English speakers seem to use trochee and iambic more than do most contemporary Brits and North Americans. Their version of English seems to me to be a real powerhouse of positive use and invention in English. "Forgive me if I have caused you any confusement," is brilliant, inventive, and as wonderful as English can be. A writer procrastinates...
Shaksper was such a brilliant play writer, he was working as an actor for Ben Johnson in 1616?? Shaksper was such a brilliant play writer that they didn't give him any court Masques after Edward DeVere died in 1604??
To write a sonnet, let your heart engage, In fourteen lines, your thoughts upon the page, With structured rhyme and meter, it shall flow, A timeless form, where poets often go. Begin with themes that stir your soul's desire, A love, a hope, a dream that sets on fire, Or ponder life's complexities and woe, In sonnet's frame, your feelings freely show. Choose rhyme scheme wisely, A-B-A-B, Or Petrarchan style, more complex to see, With octave and sestet, two parts unfold, In sonnet's dance, their tales to be told. And in the end, the couplet, it shall bind, A twist, a resolution, in your lines you'll find, So write with passion, let your verses soar, In sonnet's embrace, your art to explore.
*ANGER AND LOVE* In passion tempest, love and anger clash Their dance, a wild tango of fire and Ice Two forces warning, yet entwined they lash A paradox that leaves the heart unsliced Anger, a tempest with it's thunderous rush It's lighting strikes igniting wounded pride Yet deep within it's flames a longing year A desperate plea for love not to subside And love, the gentle rain that soothes the burn His tender touch, a balm for wounded souls Forgiveness blooms when anger flames Adjorn A fragile bridge across tumultuous shoals So let them coexist,the fierce extreme For love,in Anger's crucible reedems
I can't help but to think.... "The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain." with a Cockney accent. I hope my sonnet goes better, than poor Eliza Doolittle. I'm actually trying to write a sonnet for a crochet dragon In making for my public library. The stuffed dragon will be named Sonnet. They have a large one named Fable and he needs a friend. I teach crochet classes and I am making the second dragon in crochet because the first one is knitted. (There is a huge difference between knitting and crochet, ask any yarn enthusiast.) The crochet is the easy part. A sonnet about Sonnet is the challenge. They use the toys to help children read. Kids like to read to big stuffed animals.
I made some sonnet because I got inspired, but when I tried to read it out loud it just doesn't sound right, and when you explained the Iambic pentameter I was like "that's it, that's the one I so not have on my sonnet" Thank you for the precise explanation. I'm on my way to redo two sonnets that I made
Soooo?? Covered by papers; stitched by a pen Poets or writers Women and men Staring all night Looking at stars, inspiring by moon Waiting for any light May be later or soon Poor pen :" I'm bothered" Extrait from life's book poor pen was suffered Pleasing us to took head is heavy by thoughts It isn't our faults
The Spanish Tragedy was not credited to Kyd until after his death, so the play, which is reminiscent of Shakespeare, was supposedly written by a guy who was not known in his lifetime as a playwrite, and who supposedly wrote the play while being employed by The Earl of Oxford, who happens to be the leading alternative candidate to be the answer to the Shakespeare Authorship Question. On an unrelated note, Clark Kent and Superman were never seen in the same room together. Webster's Duchess of Malfi also contains many elements that are reminiscent of Hamlet, although that fact (like Kyd supposedly writing a play at the same time he was busy working for the Earl of Oxford) seems to have eluded the academic community so far. Maybe in another 400 years.
A man walks into the doctor's surgery and punches him in the nose. "What the hell did you do that for" yelps the doctor. " That's for telling my wife she's got acute angina"..
Great info, graphics and delivery... other than the flipping awful music. I had to turn off half way through so I never got to your comments about writing - the reason I started watching.
@SmallCrownProductions honestly I didn't even notice the music until that guy pointed it out. even now that i noticed, it still doesn't bother as much. But everyone is diff yk.
Oh my goodness, thank you so so much! This really helps me save time. I'm writing a sonnet for my project, and i'm sure that your videos are one of those guides that will make it a great one. Thank you!
Hi I am not what we can do to help with that is not what we can do to help with that is not what we can do to help with that is not what we can do to help with that is not what we can do to help with that is not what we can do to help with that is not what we can do to help
The end is not the only time to rhyme Just take a break from that for pity's sake A mid-line rhyme is also quite sublime so shake it up, when you a sonnet make
I am studying The Spanish Tragedy for uni at the moment and this video has helped me so much! You are so clear when explaining a storyline which is so complex, thank you!
