Shakespeare - The Bard of Avon: Two Aussie's travel the world

in #travelfeed6 years ago

All the world ‘s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.

The quote above was written by William Shakespeare, taken from Act 2, Scene 7 of his comedy As You Like It which was written in 1599. William Shakespeare is widely acknowledged as one of, if not the, greatest writer in the English language and the world's most preeminent dramatist's. He has written such works as: Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, Henry V, Midsummer Night's Dream and many many more including Plays, Comedies and Sonnets.


Image of the river Avon in Stratford-Upon-Avon taken today

Today we visited Stratford-Upon-Avon, England where Shakespeare was born in the year 1564. To be completely honest we are not huge Shakespeare fans, there's too many thees's and thou's in his writing for our tastes however it was important to come here nonetheless. The town itself is beautiful and quite interesting offering many opportunities to see architecture and history from the Tudor period however it's due to Stratford's most prominent former resident that most people come here, including us.

The image you see here is of the man himself, taken today within the house in which Shakespeare was born and lived in. Visitors have the opportunity to tour through his house (willed to him by his father) and the museum attached there also. People can also visit Anne Hathaway's home just out of Stratford which is where Shakespeare and Hathaway courted prior to marrying and Hall's Croft (within Stratford) where Susanna Hall (Shakespeare's daughter) and her husband John Hall lived.

From an historical perspective we found it very interesting of course and were interested to learn some facts about the man, his wife and children that we didn't know. It was all very tourist-oriented as you can imagine, however the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust do an amazing job at preserving the property and history of this important writer. Find their website here and discover more about what they do and how. Before leaving Stratford we went to the Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare was baptised, worshipped and where he is buried with his wife Anne. It is possible to view his grave, within the church, upon which is inscribed a curse, yes, a curse. It reads as follows:

Good friend for Jesus' sake forebear
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he who moves my bones.

So far they have not been moved so one can only assume the curse has been heeded since he was buried in 1616, aged 52 years.

We enjoyed our visit to Stratford-Upon-Avon, it's a beautiful, if busy, little town with quite a lot going on. There were many people taking canal boat rides and one can hire a small row boat or even powered boat to cruise around in on the river Avon. There's loads of food options from pubs, restaurants and cafe's to meal-deals at the local Sainsbury's...Something for everyone and every budget. One interesting feature is the lock that controls the water level in the canal. Stratford gives one a great chance to get up close to see how they work when a canal boat wants to go up, or down, a canal that has a higher or lower water level. I'm going to do a post on it someday because I find the canal's and their workings fascinating.

Remember back at the start of this post I said we are not really fans of Shakespeare's work? Well, nothing has changed after our visit to his birthplace today; I still don't love his work however as someone who loves writing, and reading I respect the man and his work greatly. To think that if William Shakespeare was born into a different family, a very poor country family for instance, maybe one of the greatest literary minds ever to have lived, would have been a swineherd, turnip farmer or soldier. Instead his words changes the way we speak today! I have read a few of William Shakespeare's plays, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and King Lear and understand why people love them so much. I have even seen one of his plays live in a theatre and, again, understand the attraction they have to millions of people; I just can't seem to embrace it as other's do. As a lover of history though, I feel better having visited his hometown today and learned more about the man and his life. It was a good day. Oh, something I was interested to see today was that the people following the Shakespeare-trail were from all walks of life, age and nationality. There were so many young people reading plaques, engaging with his writing and story...It was great to see such an broad and avid interest in this historical figure.

Thanks for following our journey.

Faith & Galen x

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From an historical perspective

First let me say that it warmed my heart to see you use the grammatically-correct "an" rather than the more common, modern "a." Thank you for that.

I can understand not connecting with his work as the language of the day was very different. (Interesting that I've mentioned language of the day twice already.)

There is something about visiting a famous place or the hometown of a well-known person that can allow you to appreciate the weight of the location. You may not walk away with more of a desire to consume their works, but it's interesting to experience history in that way. It links you back to the time and (hopefully) gives you a deeper understanding of the stories about them.

That's great you and Faith are able to go on this journey and see parts of the world that you hadn't yet. Hope you're having a lot of fun and eating great food!

Haha! Well, grammer and correct punctuation are passions of mine. You should see how annoyed when I read a post where the author has used your instead of you’re...That shit drives me mad and I rarely finish the post. That’s where most people lose me as a reader I suppose: Spelling errors, poor grammer and punctuation.

Thanks for the comment man. We’re having a great time and seeing some amazing places. And...It’s interesting you mentioned food...Just heading to the bar now for dinner. Yum!

I'm not an expert, but I'm fairly good at grammar and punctuation. I still have issues with semi-colons. I know the difference between you're and your though. ;)

I keep reading if there are grammatical errors, but I don't like it when I have to read and re-read just because there were some words that were misspelled.

Glad to hear you're having a good time! Enjoy that food. yum yum

Haha, I’m no expert either, just read a book I guess.

It is so great you were able to visit this area. I, myself, am a huge Shakespeare fan and I have adored his work since around high school age. It is difficult to wrap your head around the language and speech patterns until you see it performed by a truly talented group of people, then it becomes magical!

I think you’re right, seeing it performed is preferable to reading it. We’re glad we visited yesterday.

Nobody genuinely likes Shakespeare.
He's like Nickelback. People just pretend to like them to fit in with the crowd. He's the naked emperor. We just need a young boy in the crowd to point it out.
Change my mind.

hahaha @mattclarke!! Are you Canadian by any chance??!! My husband was/is buddies with the singer of Nickelback and I always tease him..."it would be way more cool if you were friends with a real rock star" haha

We usually say, "Don't quit your day job", but his night work is no better.
Criminal record says I broke in twice.
I must've done it half a dozen times

I'm sorry, but a burglar with tourettes would have better stats than .

hahaha @mattclarke, that is hilarious!! "burglar with tourettes" 😎

Have you ever inspired by william shakespear?

To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.

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great history.
thanks for sharing.

Another great adventure @galenkp. This trip you two are on is awesome!

I was never a fan of Shakespeare until I had to teach it, and forced myself to actually figure out what he was saying haha I always seem to really enjoy the first act of his plays, where most of the action happens, then blah blah blah, everybody dies :)

Except Macbeth. Love it.

Nice piece mate. Thanks uncle William for making the sounds of our mouths somewhat more civilized. Water canals and any kind of other waterworks shows simply the work of civilized man and his progress.

Sleep well guys

Thanks mate :) Yes, old Willy had a way with words didn't he?

You got a 29.19% upvote from @ocdb courtesy of @galenkp!

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