Sir,
This refers to the news item ‘ Three- day International seminar on ‘The Republic in Shakespeare’ concludes in JU'(DE, Oct19, 2013) It is heartening to read that the Department of English, , University of Jammu in collaboration with the Shakespeare Association of India organized an international seminar on ‘The Repuplic in Shakespeare’ at Jammu University. It is a befitting tribute to the Great Bard who has been so far the greatest poet and dramatist England has ever produced.Even after a period of about four hundred years after his death, he continues to enthrall the readers and influence the modern poets and playwrights by the magnitude, quality and variety of his plays and sonnets.He is considered to be a library in himself His invaluable contribution to English literature include thirty seven plays such as Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth etc , besides 154 sonnets and some other poems.It is believed that he has used a vocabulary of thirty thousand words in compiling his inimitable works.He has enriched the English language by inventing more thantwo thousand words and phrases such as’ naked truth, ‘all that glitters is not gold’, ‘bag and baggage’, ‘foregone conclusion’, ‘milk of human kindness’ ‘wild goose chase’ etc. which have enriched the English language and become words of everyday conversation.It is because of him that we have such thoughts and quotations as ‘Brevity is the soul of wit’, ‘All that glitters is not gold’,’Nor a borrower nor a lender be’ etc. His sonnets such as ‘Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day,’ (sonnet18) , ‘Let me not to the Marriage of the true Minds'(sonnet116) etc.are considered to be among the most romantic poems ever written in the English literature.
He is the second most quoted writer in the English language after the various writers of the Bible. Not only this, there are 157 million pages referring to him on Google while 132 million pages refer to God.As a tribute to this great writer, most ol the twenty seven satellites of Uranus have been named after the names of the various characters of his plays. The great dramatist, Ben Jonson called him ‘not of an age, but of all times .Surely such a writer, his life, works, times and philosphy needs to be discussed and brought to the knowledge of students, teachers and the public.His poems abound in depth of thought and need to be included in the syllabi of each class from 9th onwards to inspire students and future poets at a young age.Such seminars need to be organised at the school and college level too in order to enlighten the students about the life, works and times of great poets and writers.
Yours etc……
Ashok Sharma,
Lecturer in English,
Govt.HSS Barolla, ( Udhampur )
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