Lesson plan; The Enduring Relevance of Shakespeare’s Words.

How much Shakespeare is constantly in your head?

This was the question Graham Norton had for Judi Dench. Her answer? It is all of us. We do not realize we quote Shakespeare all the time, perhaps without knowing it. Like being in love, being jealous and being angry. Shakespeare has a way of summing up completely sufficient for what you are feeling.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the pervasive influence of Shakespeare’s works in everyday language and expression.
• Analyze the depth and universality of Shakespeare’s insights into human emotions and experiences.
• Explore the personal connection individuals have to Shakespeare’s characters and themes.
• Discover the transformative power of Shakespeare’s words to express complex emotions and perspectives.

Judi Dench and Shakespeare; “Haply I think on thee.

Then Graham Norten gets a question; What passage is on your mind now Graham? His answer;

I have all occasions to inform against me.

Lesson plan

1. Watch the video below
2. Answer the questions; where is the quote by Graham Norton from?
3. Arnold Schwarzenegger also quoted Shakespeare. What did he quote? And do you know anything about his background as a politician?
4. Analyzing Sonnet 29: A Portrait of Human Desire and Contentment. Engage students in a close reading of Sonnet 29, examining the speaker’s contrasting emotions of despair and joy as they contemplate their circumstances and the beauty of true love.
5. Discuss the speaker’s longing for external validation and possessions, contrasting it with their newfound contentment derived from the remembrance of their beloved.

6. Finding Your Own Shakespearean Connection

   1. Encourage students to reflect on their personal experiences and emotions that resonate with Shakespeare’s works.

   2. Ask them to identify a specific quote or passage from Shakespeare that speaks to them deeply and explain why it holds such personal significance.

   3. Allow students to share their chosen quotes and provide insights into their connection with the selected passages, highlighting how Shakespeare’s words can connect with individuals on a profound level.

Sonnet 29 by William Shakespeare. Here is the complete sonnet:

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope, With what I most enjoy contented least; Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, Haply I think on thee, and then my state, Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate; For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings.