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Shakespeare
This packet includes:
1. Shakespeare Scavenger Hunt
2. Shakespeare Quotes for Prompts/Discussion
3. Slang Dictionary
4. Shakespeare Persuasion
5. Shakespeare Sonnets, Iambic pentameter, language familiarity
6. Reading Log for any Shakespeare Play
7. Literary Devices Search for each act
8. Sonnet My Mistress’ Eyes and a look at Middle English
9. Group project ideas
10. Sonnet Maker Template
These materials are meant to be used before, during, and after reading any of Shakespeare’s
plays and/or poetry. Do not recommend using all of them, just a select few.
1. The name of Shakespeare’s acting troupe. _________________________
2. Find and copy a list of words that Shakespeare invented. Need 100 words or
more. Attach to this paper and label as #2
3. What did Shakespeare leave in his will for his wife, Anne Hathaway?
____________________________________________________
4. Ask any adult if they think learning about Shakespeare is important. Why or why
not? Summareis their answer here and ask them to sign: _________________
________________________________________________________________
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5. Sonnet 130 is a love poem. What is Shakespeare saying in this poem?
________________________________________________________________
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6. How many sonnets are attributed to Shakespeare?
7. How many words were assumed to be in Shakespeare’s vocabulary?
8. What is the vocabulary of an average person?
9. Find and write five quotes that are often taken from Shakespeare. Describe their
meaning, why they are used.
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10. Find an allusion, a reference, to Shakespeare in print today. Attach
11. Where in the school can you find and image or reference to Shakespeare
BESIDES our class or the library?
12. Name two people who have been named as possible identities in the Authorship
debate. _______________________________________________
13. How many times does suicide occur in Shakespeare’s plays? ______
14. What play has been lost to modern readers? ______________________
15. Who said Shakespeare was “not of an age, but for all time?” ________________
16. How many people could fit in Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre? _____________
17. Print a picture of the original and the new Globe theatre. Attach
18. What is a pun? ________________________________________________
Find a Shakespearean pun and write here. ________________________________
19. Why were London theatres closed in 1593-1594?
20. Briefly describe England during the Elizabethan Era.
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Answers To Shakespeare Scavenger Hunt
1. Lord Chamberlain’s Men’s
2. Attached paper of 100+ words created by Shakespeare
3. His “second best bed”
4. Answers vary- should have summary and signature
5. Basically that the author loves his “mistress” for her rare and natural beauty
which is not the image of perfection many others claim.
6. 154
7. 29,000
8. 4,000
9. Answers vary
10. Attached example of Shakespearean allusion
11. Answers vary according to school
12. 2 names from: Edward De Vere, Christopher Marlowe, Sir Francis Bacon,
Derby, Queen Elizabeth
13. 13 times
14. Cardenio
15. Ben Johnson
16. 3000
17. Attach two pictures of the old and new Globe theatres.
18. Answers vary
19. Outbreak of the Black Plague
20. Answers vary: Source for nice summary http://www.bardweb.net/england.html
Shakespeare Quotes Worth Contemplation
Consider using these quotes in the weeks leading up to teaching Shakespeare. They can lead to a better
understanding of the text. Just share the quote, ask students to write a personal response to it—some
connection they can make.
Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin as self-neglecting.
Summer's lease hath all too short a date.
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.
The miserable have no other medicine but only hope. - Measure for Measure
It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves.
Sweet are the uses of adversity.
Give sorrow words.
The grief that does not speak
Whispers the o're-fraught heart, and bids it break. - The Tragedy of Macbeth, IV, iii
To thine own self be true.
Love sought is good, but given unsought is better
We know what we are, but know not what we may become
How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world!
“To die, to sleep To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub,
For in this sleep of death what dreams may come...”
―Hamlet
“Conscience doth make cowards of us all.”
―Hamlet
Slang Dictionary
Ever hear this when teaching Shakespeare:
“Why doesn’t he just say it—just say what he means?”
My response has always been “Why don’t you?”
Before we even begin Shakespeare I have the students create a slang dictionary and we talk about language.
Here are the instructions for the slang dictionary:
1. Provide a working definition of slang.
Slang is a set of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's dialect or
language. Slang is often highly regional, specific to a particular territory or subculture. Slang words and expressions can
spread outside their original arena, and some may even lose their slang status and become accepted as a standard
language. Often, the widespread adoption of a slang term by mainstream culture will cause the subculture it originated
in to create a new, less recognized term. From <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Slang
2. Take five (or your preference) sheets of paper and fold in half (landscape) to make a small booklet.
3. On the right side of each opened page write a word or phrase that is a colorful use of language in pop
culture. Include a definition and possible picture and part of speech if applicable. These will be shared with the
class. Remember to be school appropriate.
4. As we read Shakespeare students will write down examples of his colorful use of language. These will go on
the left side when they match a similar definition (if possible). Can also arrange it to have first 3 pages as
current, last five as Shakespeare, etc.
5. When complete create a cover that uses colorful language for the title of the slang dictionary. In other
words, do not call it The Slang Dictionary.
6. The back cover is to be completed last. This includes a personal reflection about the use of language in
Shakespeare’s works as well as modern culture and what students noticed as similarities.
Additional lessons on languages/slang,
Consider using this New York Times article which talks about the UrbanDictionary and use of slang
In this lesson from NYTimes Learning Blog "Students share thoughts about the cultural nuances inherent in
different languages. They then document words and phrases unique to their own generation, region and
culture. Learning is synthesized by updating a 16th century English text into contemporary American-English."
Another NYT lesson on SLANG
"Pray, Why Speakest Thou in Such Addled Tones?" PBS Colonial House Lesson: students will examine how
popular language and slang have changed over the course of American history.
One of the most often asked question in English classes is “Why do we have to learn
this?” It is a great question. Your job is to find reasons WHY we should or should not
learn about Shakespeare, and WHY we should or should not read his plays. Convince me
one way or the other with strong EVIDENCE.
You will provide a 3 minute MOVIEMAKER or PHOTOSTORY presentation to the
class on why we should learn Shakespeare. Remember, this is like any other persuasion
assignment—you need to look carefully at both sides to have the most convincing
argument. Opinions are not as important here as facts.
Be creative and HAVE FUN with this.
Presentation must include:
□ Credits: Your name / Date / Teacher name
□ Title of presentation
□ Opinion backed by factual information and sources
□ Photos and music related to the persuasion
□ Creativity in design and ideas
□ Works cited - NOTE: Grade will be an automatic 0 without this page
Use pictures from your camera as well as from the web
Download sounds and songs- make sure to cite them
Record interviews on video
Make a mini movie
Do a skit
Involve other people
Make it funny
Try claymation
Animate the movie
TIP: Make sure you save all items that are in the movie in a separate file folder on the
computer. When you are finished creating the movie, make sure you choose: FINISH
MOVIE to turn it from a project into a movie.
Extra Credit
We will view these in class and vote on the top 3.
Those top 3 will receive extra credit..
Shakespeare Sonnet and Iambic Pentameter
This link is to a great video showing a lesson on getting the kids to work with iambic pentameter. Take a look
and see what you think.
http://www.shakespeareinamericanlife.org/education/schooldays/iambicpentameter.cfm
Easy defintions to share:
A sonnet is a lyric poem with 14 lines and a specific rhyme scheme or pattern.
The rhyme scheme for an English sonnet is abab, cdcd, efef, and gg.
Rhyme scheme is a letter assigned to each rhyme sound.
An English sonnet has three quatrains (stanzas of four lines) followed by a couplet (two lines in iambic
pentameter ended with the same sound).
Sonnets normally raise a question in the first ten lines and the couplet (the last two lines) usually draws a
conclusion or presents a solution to the problems outlined earlier in the poem.
Shakespeare wrote his plays and sonnets in iambic penatmeter
iamb means a soft a soft stress followed by a sharp one: da-DUM.
penta means five.
meter is the beat.
So, iambic pentameter means five iambs or five da DUMs. Ten syllables.
(A good example of an iambic everyday word is toDAY.)
Example: But SOFT, what LIGHT through YONder WINdow BREAKS."
da DUM da DUM
da DUM da DUM da DUM
Activities
 Use any of the sonnets (2 from Shakespeare) on the following page and have the students walk out the
beat, just like it was done in the video (see link above).
 Have students work in pairs to paraphrase the lines of the poems.
 Use the Sonnet Maker handout for student to create their own sonnet.
 Students work together to create sonnets using modern language based on the following sonnets.
 Make copies of the sonnet in large print. (see page 3) Cut the words/phrases individually. Let students
work in groups to try to piece it back together based on the rhyme scheme and message.
Sonnet 130
by William Shakespeare
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
My Letters! all dead paper... (Sonnet 28)
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Sonnet 18
by William Shakespeare
My letters! all dead paper, mute and white!
And yet they seem alive and quivering
Against my tremulous hands which loose the string
And let them drop down on my knee tonight.
This said—he wished to have me in his sight
Once, as a friend: this fixed a day in spring
To come and touch my hand. . . a simple thing,
Yes I wept for it—this . . . the paper's light. . .
Said, Dear, I love thee; and I sank and quailed
As if God's future thundered on my past.
This said, I am thine—and so its ink has paled
With lying at my heart that beat too fast.
And this . . . 0 Love, thy words have ill availed
If, what this said, I dared repeat at last!
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Anthem for Doomed Youth
by Wilfred Owen
Mother Night
by James Weldon Johnson
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
Eternities before the first-born day,
Or ere the first sun fledged his wings of flame,
Calm Night, the everlasting and the same,
A brooding mother over chaos lay.
And whirling suns shall blaze and then decay,
Shall run their fiery courses and then claim
The haven of the darkness whence they came;
Back to Nirvanic peace shall grope their way.
So when my feeble sun of life burns out,
And sounded is the hour for my long sleep,
I shall, full weary of the feverish light,
Welcome the darkness without fear or doubt,
And heavy-lidded, I shall softly creep
Into the quiet bosom of the Night.
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Reading Log for Shakespearean Play
Act and Question(s) from the teacher
Scene(s) include line #’s where applicable
Reflection:
Language Devices: Make note of
important puns, allusions, figurative
language include line #’s
Name _________________
Comments-- include line #’s where
applicable
Clarification-include line #’s
Write question(s) or comment(s) you have
about this scene so far.
Words that are still
confusing after list,notes,
and context do not help
Literary Terms
Name: ____________________________
ACT __________
find examples of the
following
Metaphor
comparison made by
calling one item another
item
Pun
A play on words wherein a
word is used to convey
two meanings at the same
time.
Allusion
an indirect reference to
another famous person,
literary work, even or
place.
Couplet
a style of poetry defined
as a complete thought
written in two lines with
rhyming ends
Oxymoron
a combination of
contradictory terms
Soliloquy
when a character talks to
him/herself aloud on
stage in order for the
audience to know what
he/she is thinking
Monologue
a long character speech to
himself, or narrating an
account to an audience or
character
Personification
animals, ideas or inorganic
objects are given human
characteristics
Scene
Line
Example (for very long examples write the first few lines… the last line)
Sonnet 130
Name: ___________________
___ / ___pts
Put in your words:
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
____________________________________
Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
____________________________________
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
____________________________________
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
____________________________________
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
____________________________________
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
____________________________________
And in some perfumes is there more delight
____________________________________
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
____________________________________
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
____________________________________
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
____________________________________
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
____________________________________
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground: ____________________________________
And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,
____________________________________
As any she belied with false compare.
____________________________________
Middle English Reading
My Miſtres eyes are nothing like the Sunne,
Currall is farre more red,then her lips red,
If ſnow be white,why then her breſts are dun:
If haires be wiers,black wiers grow on her head:
I haue ſeene Roſes damaskt,red and white,
But no ſuch Roſes ſee I in her cheekes,
And in ſome perfumes is there more delight,
Then in the breath that from my Miſtres reekes.
I loue to heare her ſpeake,yet well I know,
That Muſicke hath a farre more pleaſing found:
I graunt I neuer ſaw a goddeſſe goe,
My Miſtres when ſhee walkes treads on the ground.
And yet by heauen I thinke my loue as rare,
As any ſhe beli'd with falſe compare.
www.EnglishTeachersFriend.com
Group Project Ideas
Make a timeline of the events. Tape paper together and make it legible and artistic. Show the
key events throughout the play with significant quotes relating to each.
Character sketches of the main characters. Each main character has their own paper. Write 3
adjectives for each, 1 quote that defines their character, 1 actor/picture to play them, other
pictures to show who they are, their personality traits, etc.
Literary devices. Use one sheet of paper for each device: Simile, metaphor, pun, alliteration,
allusion, personification, imagery, oxymoron. Title the paper clearly. Write a definition of the
device and give an example from the book. Design in a way that shows the connection to the
quote.
Test Create a test about the play. Include T/F, Matching, short answer, and multiple choice
questions. Answer all. This must be typed with a separate answer key. All group members are
responsible for typing up a different section.
Historical reference: Create a 5 minute presentation with visual (powerpoint, movie, speech)
about the historical references in the play. What was happening during the author’s time that
influenced this piece of work?
Current Events: Gather 5 items of current events that reflect incidents that closely parallel
incidents from the play.
Create a board game based on events and characters in the play. By playing your game,
members of the class should learn what happened in the play. Your game must include the
following: a game board, a rule sheet and clear directions, events and characters from the
story.
Picture Book Rewrite the play for younger children in picture book form. Min 20 pages
Graphic Novel Have some artists in the group? Write a Graphic Novel version of the play.
Create Your Own—Ask teacher for approval to create your own project.
Sonnet Maker
Use the chart to place syllables in each box. Remember to alternate stress and unstressed syllables. The poem should present a problem or question
in the first 12 lines. The last two lines, the rhyming couplet, will present a solution or response to the first 12 lines.
da
DUM
da
DUM
da
DUM
da
DUM
da
DUM
1
A
2
B
3
A
4
B
5
C
6
D
7
C
8
D
9
E
10
F
11
E
12
F
13
G rhyming
couplet
14
G rhyming
couplet