The witty banter, the inside jokes, the shy, slightly backhanded compliments – it’s starting to feel like I am dating Shakespeare. It is week four of my 154 week journey to memorize the entire cannon of sonnets, and I’m starting to think he might like me. Week after week he tells me that I am beautiful and therefore should get crackin’ on having kids – maybe the Baby Boom had nothing to do with the war and everything to do with an outbreak of Shakspearean Sonnets…
I have never engaged so directly and so actively with Shakespeare’s Sonnets, and certainly not in a linear fashion. I am struck by what a smart-ass the bard can be when speaking in a voice closely related to his own. This morning I have been pulling double duty with a piece of Portia and Sonnet 3. It occurred to me that in speaking to Bassanio, I don’t feel as though I am also giving voice to Shakespeare the man, but, when speaking Sonnet 3, I feel like the sassafrass, intellectual genius is alive and kicking through my voice.
Are the sonnets actually a true replica of Shakespeare’s most inner thoughts? Would he have spoken these words in the private moments between himself and his lover? While it would be nice to think so, I wouldn’t bet on it. Even so, I feel like the compact, super charged form of the Sonnet has caught some small reflection of Shakespeare the man, and looking in I can see his shape, his limbs, his stature.
Like any muscle that is continually stretched and conditioned, I can feel my mind wrapping around ideas more quickly. The breath has begun to fall in sync with the meter, and my voice rides easily across to my target. Will this weekly venture give me the ultimate tool? Will I discover the hidden portal into Shakespeare’s mind? Will the lost years reveal themselves to my finely tuned instrument? No. But I might just be a little leaner, a little braver, a little quicker and little sassier each time I get into the ring with my new bard boyfriend.
I wonder if he’ll bring me flowers for date number five…
Life as a Shakespeare Addict 