Understanding Shakespeare involves serious decoding. To "get" the true meaning of one of Shakespeare's sonnets doesn't take just a quick read through. Shakespeare alludes to deep concepts like the meaning of life and the purpose of love in short fourteen line poems. You have to read tirelessly just to grasp those concepts, however. It is almost like Shakespeare wants us to be confused. Maybe it's all just part of his major plan to make us feel less intelligent. I really enjoy translating his sonnets, though. Sonnet # 18 gives life, beauty and love to a woman who lives through the poem. Words will survive through earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other disasters unlike other monuments. Shakespeare discovered this, and his words will live on longer than the Parthenon and Pyramids of Giza.
Interesting comments about wanting us to feel less intelligenct, Miss Breslin. As it happens, I just read a passage in a book about him and his desire to RAISE people's intelligence, to challenge them to be smarter, even back then, but that he had to teach them to do this, teach them through his plays how to read and think about them. Glad you like 18.
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