Don’t capitalize names of seasons unless they’re part of a proper noun, such as Summer Olympics or Spring Formal. Unlike the names of months and days of the week, seasons aren’t eponymous, meaning they don’t derive from...
For a compendium of slanderous Elizabethan expressions, try Barry Kraft’s book, Shakespeare Insult Generator. There are more sources online for sneering Shakespearean phrases and randomly generated insults inspired by the Bard, perfect for the...
In observance of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, copies of his First Folio will be touring all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico, for the public to see. It seems fitting, considering what D.H. Lawrence wrote about the Bard: “When...
The term green-eyed monster, meaning jealousy, first appears in Shakespeare’s Othello, when Iago says, “Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy!/ It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock/ The meat it feeds on.” This is part of a...
Glyn Maxwell, in a recent review of the book Ideas of Order: A Close Reading of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, argues that reading the sonnets altogether in a collection is a little strange, since many of them are worth more attention than...
The word flout, originally meaning “to show contempt,” pops up in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Here’s a hint to help you remember the difference between flout and flaunt: You can flaunt your bikini body on...