John Donne

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/John_Donne

John Donne was brought into this world on the twenty-first of January 1572 into the beautiful city of London, England.  Donne was the third of six children and his parents were John Donne and Elizabeth Heywood.  Donne's father died when he was only four, leaving his mother to care for her six children by herself, for a few months until she remarried.  From the age of eleven until he was in his early twenties, Donne was enrolled in several different schools.  At the age of twenty-five he was appointed Chief Secretary to the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, Thomas Egerton.  He fell in love with Egerton's niece, Anne More.  They were married and had ten children in sixteen years of marriage.  Th,e couple faced serious financial dispair, with so many mouths to feed and what little work Donne was recieving.  Anne died five days after giving birth to a still-born baby.  Surpriseingly, Donne never remarried.  He died on March thirty-first 1631, from what is believed to had been stomach cancer, and was buried in St.. Paul's Catherdral.  During his years he wrote many peoms including one of his most well known, "The Flea." 
http://www.online-literature.com/donne/

"MARK but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deniest me is ;
It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be.
Thou know'st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead ;
    Yet this enjoys before it woo,
    And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two ;
    And this, alas ! is more than we would do.

O stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, yea, more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is.
Though parents grudge, and you, we're met,
And cloister'd in these living walls of jet.
    Though use make you apt to kill me,
    Let not to that self-murder added be,
    And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.

Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be,
Except in that drop which it suck'd from thee?
Yet thou triumph'st, and say'st that thou
Find'st not thyself nor me the weaker now.
'Tis true ; then learn how false fears be ;
Just so much honour, when thou yield'st to me,
Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee."

This is a very suductive poem when you figure out what is actually being spoke of.  You have this guy trying to get laid and a woman who is unwilling.  He speaks of a flea to try to get her to give in.  Their blood was mixed inside the flea, so his reasoning is that there is no reason not to do what has already been done. Then she goes and kills the flea, spilling their blood. Now the guy comes back and says, since it was so easy to kill the flea, why can't it be just as easy to give in to me?  What I want to know is if this actually worked.  If you started talking about a flea nowadays people would be disgusted and the oppisite of being seduced would occur.  But I guess that is why this poem was wrote over four hundred years ago and not in this time period

The 1996 Rendition of Romeo and Juliet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLWPg3SCYH4

If you are forced to read Shakespeare's Romeo and Juleit, you might want to rent this movie because even though it is set in modern day times it is still the same story and dialoge used in Shakespeare's original play.  It is so much more interesting than watching the old black and white films or a play because it is meant to be more interesting and appealing to today's students.  I do not know about you all but the Elizibethian language does not go so well with me.  I have to read something multiple times and even then get some help to figure out what it means.  Even though the dialoge in this film is the original, it just is more comprehendible because you can relate better to the characters and scenes than you could in the original play.  In one sense the actors may not be able to completely fulfill what was meant by Shakespeare, but in the other they show how a play that is over four hundred years old can still be reinacted to sit in with the way things are now days.  You still have the two main characters Romeo and Juliet from opposing sides, who fall in love, and will do everything in their power to be together.  Their families do not agree but that does not matter to them.  It is love that encompasses what they do, and nothing can stand between them.  Ultimately in the end their fates remain the same and they both lie dead amidst one another. 
http://www.reelviews.net/movies/r/romeo_juliet.html

Shakespeare's Hamlet

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/dramahamlet/hamlet_plot3.shtml

It is very surprising to me how young Hamlet has the restrain to control his actions after he knows for sure that Claudius killed his father.  When the actors perform the play Hamlet set up about a murder, Claudius could not sit still and watch it so he left.  This is when the prince knew he was the one who  murdered his father.  So young Hamlet goes to find Claudius and get revenge for his father’s death, but when he finds him he is praying.  Claudius knows  his secret is out so he is trying to make things good with God before he is killed.  However when Hamlet sees him praying he does not want to kill him because he wants his soul to be damned instead of being cleansed before he dies.  I guess it is because I do not believe the same things that they do but if I was about to kill someone, them praying would not stop me.  But prince Hamlet was able to control his actions and just walk away.   That is some serious self control going on right there.  But in the end Hamlet gets his revenge by stabbing Claudius with the poisoned sword and forcing him to drink the rest of the poisoned wine.  It is too bad that prince Hamlet had to die along with everyone else in this play.  My question is who is going to take over the throne now that the royal family is all gone???

http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/summary.html

The Great Bard--- William Shakespeare

http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-biography.htm

                

       The actual date of William Shakespeare's birthday is uncertain but speculation has brought many to believe it was April 23, 1564.  His father was John Shakespeare and his mother was Mary Arden.  They were married in 1557.  His father was a town official in Stratford, a businessman, and a glover.  His mother was the daughter of a landowning farmer.  William was the third child of John and Mary.  It is not known for sure but believeed that he attended The Kings New School in Stratford.  On November 28, 1582 William, eighteen, married Anne Hathaway, twenty-six, and six months later they had a daughter, Susanna.  Two years later they had twins, Judith and Hamnet. The next seven years of the Bard's life are known as his lost years, because there was hardly any historical traces of his life.  By 1592, his work was showing up on the London stage, and his fame began growing.  For about the next twenty-five years he was acting and writing plays in London.  He made several property purchases and investments during his time.  In 1597, William bought the second largest house in Stratford, New Palace.  The last five years of his life he enjoyed retirement in Stratford and the wealth acquired from his work.  Shakespeare passed away on April 23, 1616 at the age of 52.  He was buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church. 

http://www.enotes.com/william-shakespeare/shakespeare-biography