To celebrate the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare's death the Bodleian Library in Oxford are holding an exhibition called Shakespeare's Dead, and I went along with a group from the church to see it. Not because I thought the exhibition itself would be interesting, but I am taking all opportunities to get to know the members of the church.
I tried paraphrasing it all, but decided it would be simpler to copy and paste the blurb about it.
"Shakespeare's Dead provides a unique take on the subject by exploring how Shakespeare used the anticipation of death, the moment of death and mourning the dead as contexts to bring characters to life. The exhibition will feature tragic characters from Shakespeare's works including Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet.
Shakespeare's Dead also looks at last words spoken, funerals and mourning as well as life after death, including ghosts and characters who come back to life. These themes will be explored using key items from the Bodleian's famous literary collections that include Shakespeare's First Folio and the first Shakespeare playbook (Romeo & Juliet), a number of early editions and an extensive collection of plays and poetry by Shakespeare and his contemporaries"
I was right about not finding the exhibition interesting, but I have to confess that I have never liked English Literature, but there were other items in the Library which caught my interest and attention. Afterwards we went to the cafeteria for tea and cake and chat, and I enjoyed that.
It is part of a programme organised by St Andrew's called 'Holiday at Home' for those not going away for a holiday. The first event was the Music and Tea last Monday which I wrote about in an earlier blog. There was going to be an art workshop on Wednesday which had to be cancelled because of illness, and on Friday there was the lecture on 'How English became English' which I also wrote about. This week there was the event at the library today, and on Wednesday a church member is leading an afternoon of poetry, but I've got my second dental appointment to finish off the root canal fillings. And on Friday there is going to be a quiz - I certainly won't be able to hold my own in a quiz among all the highly educated people here, but someone has to be bottom, it might as well be me :-)
It is part of a programme organised by St Andrew's called 'Holiday at Home' for those not going away for a holiday. The first event was the Music and Tea last Monday which I wrote about in an earlier blog. There was going to be an art workshop on Wednesday which had to be cancelled because of illness, and on Friday there was the lecture on 'How English became English' which I also wrote about. This week there was the event at the library today, and on Wednesday a church member is leading an afternoon of poetry, but I've got my second dental appointment to finish off the root canal fillings. And on Friday there is going to be a quiz - I certainly won't be able to hold my own in a quiz among all the highly educated people here, but someone has to be bottom, it might as well be me :-)
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