Test your ability to identify if a line is from Shakespeare or Taylor Swift in this video from the National Theater. Cast members from Great Performances: Romeo and Juliet are presented with quotes and have to decide whether they are from the bard of today or the past! Support materials ask students to extend the game by coming up with their own version using a different songwriter.
Lesson Procedures:
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Introduction
- Begin with a brief discussion on the universality of themes in literature and music, focusing on love as a central theme.
- Introduce the activity by explaining that students will explore how expressions of love have evolved from Shakespeare’s time to the present by comparing “Romeo and Juliet” with modern music lyrics.
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Activity – “Shakespeare or Taylor Swift?”
- Show the “Shakespeare or Taylor Swift?” video where cast members guess whether lines are from Shakespeare or Taylor Swift.
- After viewing, discuss students’ reactions and thoughts on the similarities and differences in language and expression.
Student Task: “Star-Crossed Words” — Finding Common Ground Between Shakespeare and Swift
Overview:
In this task, you will explore the surprising similarities between William Shakespeare and Taylor Swift—two writers from very different eras who both write passionately about love, conflict, longing, and identity. By comparing excerpts from Romeo and Juliet and lyrics from Taylor Swift’s songs, you will discover how writers use language to express timeless human emotions.
Objective:
To analyze texts by Shakespeare and Taylor Swift and identify three key similarities in:
- Theme (e.g., forbidden love, miscommunication, passion)
- Tone (e.g., earnest, dramatic, ironic)
- Literary devices (e.g., metaphor, allusion, repetition, imagery)
Instructions:
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Pairing the Texts
- You’ll be given 2–3 excerpts from Romeo and Juliet (e.g., the balcony scene, Juliet’s soliloquy, Romeo’s final speech).
- You’ll also be given the lyrics to two Taylor Swift songs that engage similar themes—“Love Story” and “You Belong With Me.”
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Close Reading
- Annotate both texts, noting recurring images, metaphors, and emotional tones.
- Underline or highlight key phrases that speak to the characters’ emotional state, their relationships, and the conflicts they face.
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Comparative Analysis
- In small groups or pairs, create a Venn Diagram that shows where Shakespeare and Swift overlap and where they differ.
- Identify at least three specific similarities, using direct quotes from both texts to support each point.
- Discuss how the time period and medium (play vs. song) affect how the theme is expressed.
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Written Response
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Individually, write a short analytical response (300–500 words) addressing the following prompt:
How do William Shakespeare and Taylor Swift explore the idea of love as something powerful, complicated, and often out of reach? Use specific examples from both the play and the song lyrics.
-
Student Task: “Star-Crossed Words” — Finding Common Ground Between Shakespeare and Swift
Overview:
In this task, you will explore the surprising similarities between William Shakespeare and Taylor Swift—two writers from very different eras who both write passionately about love, conflict, longing, and identity. By comparing excerpts from Romeo and Juliet and lyrics from Taylor Swift’s songs, you will discover how writers use language to express timeless human emotions.
Objective:
To analyze texts by Shakespeare and Taylor Swift and identify three key similarities in:
- Theme (e.g., forbidden love, miscommunication, passion)
- Tone (e.g., earnest, dramatic, ironic)
- Literary devices (e.g., metaphor, allusion, repetition, imagery)
Instructions:
-
Pairing the Texts
- You’ll be given 2–3 excerpts from Romeo and Juliet (e.g., the balcony scene, Juliet’s soliloquy, Romeo’s final speech).
- You’ll also be given the lyrics to two Taylor Swift songs that engage similar themes—“Love Story” and “You Belong With Me.”
-
Close Reading
- Annotate both texts, noting recurring images, metaphors, and emotional tones.
- Underline or highlight key phrases that speak to the characters’ emotional state, their relationships, and the conflicts they face.
-
Comparative Analysis
- In small groups or pairs, create a Venn Diagram that shows where Shakespeare and Swift overlap and where they differ.
- Identify at least three specific similarities, using direct quotes from both texts to support each point.
- Discuss how the time period and medium (play vs. song) affect how the theme is expressed.
-
Written Response
-
Individually, write a short analytical response (300–500 words) addressing the following prompt:
How do William Shakespeare and Taylor Swift explore the idea of love as something powerful, complicated, and often out of reach? Use specific examples from both the play and the song lyrics.
-
📜 Excerpts from Romeo and Juliet
(Shortened and adapted for classroom analysis)
1. The Balcony Scene
Act 2, Scene 2 — Juliet speaks to herself, unaware that Romeo is listening.
Juliet:
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
Themes: forbidden love, identity, names and labels, social conflict.
2. Juliet’s Soliloquy Before Drinking the Potion
Act 4, Scene 3 — Juliet contemplates taking the sleeping potion.
Juliet:
What if this mixture do not work at all?
Shall I be married then tomorrow morning?What if it be a poison, which the friar
Subtly hath ministered to have me dead…How if, when I am laid into the tomb,
I wake before the time that Romeo
Come to redeem me? There’s a fearful point!Alack, alack, is it not like that I,
So early waking, what with loathsome smells,
And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth,
That living mortals, hearing them, run mad…?
Themes: risk for love, fear, isolation, desperation.
3. Romeo’s Final Speech
Act 5, Scene 3 — Romeo believes Juliet is dead.
Romeo:
Here’s to my love! [Drinks.]
O true apothecary!
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.
Themes: tragic love, finality, impulsive passion.
🎵 Lyrics from Taylor Swift’s “Love Story”
Inspired directly by Romeo and Juliet, the song reimagines the couple’s fate with a hopeful twist.
We were both young when I first saw you
I close my eyes and the flashback starts
I’m standing there
On a balcony in summer airSee the lights, see the party, the ball gowns
See you make your way