23 April 2014

Shakespeare's ageless age

How old is William Shakespeare, do you know?  You could frame that question another way: how young is he? Do we know? Will we ever know?  How does one gauge age of an author with the kind of ability Shakespeare possessed to play with word, turn and twist phrase, lay out narratives that delight and damn and keep it all as relevant now as it was when first to paper he put his pen?  Impossible.
William Shakespeare is as old as King Lear when he arrogantly tore up peopled-lands to gift his daughters. He is as young as King Lear when the monarch was reduced to his human dimensions and inflicted with insanity.  Shakespeare is as old as Julius Caesar when that ambitious man was slain, and as young as Mark Antony when he made his funeral speech and taught the world what demagoguery is all about.  He is as young as Romeo was when he wooed Juliet. He is as old as Shylock and as young as Portia.  Need we continue?
William Shakespeare is 450 years old today.  For thousands who encounter him on this day for the first time, however, William Shakespeare has just seen the light of day. Let us rejoice!

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If I draw analogies with the Great Bard's "Hemlock Root"- that is exactly what your work is capable- beautiful, mystic, blunt, sad- A poison of a different kind...

sajic said...

excellently done.