Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Pop Sonnets- Shakespeare podcast
Shakespeare Pop Sonnets is the most amazing thing I have ever read.
Pop songs today is so similar to Shakespeare that you would think they are based off of Shakespeare. Erik Didrikson wrote a book called Pop Sonnets which is our favorite pop songs translated into Shakespearean Sonnets. These are the funniest things I have ever read, and included some of my favorites below. Erik has a lot of fun converting these songs. The sonnets are 14 lines long and are in Iambic Pentameter. The most enjoyable part of it is reading the lyrics in Elizabethan language. Some of the songs such as Fresh Prince of Bel-Air you can still put the Elizabethan language lyrics to the actual music. Other songs such as Taylor Swift's Shake it Off will have a modern lyric which makes it funnier! The podcast really opened me up to how many Shakespeare connections there are in modern day culture. Since Shakespeare we have modernized but many of our dramas, stories, and situations are the same as in Shakespeare. I am sure that in Shakeaspeare's lifetime there was plenty of funny, silly moments where people dance around, drama, gossip, love triangles between the teens, and sassy people that will give you attitude in some sarcastic tone that we all have today. The Pop Sonnets makes me want to go back in time, and read these to the people to see if maybe someone is suffering a heartbreak and reciting words from Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On, or saw a fine guy and said Call Me Maybe. Now whenever I hear a song that I read the sonnet, all I can think of is how the song applies to Shakespearean times. Shakespeare was a mix of the Taylor Swift, Eminem, Beyonce, Drake, etc. of his time. Reading the pop sonnets show how much of a cultural interest that Shakespeare was.
The article I read further connects Shakespeare and modern day music. One song in particular I have loved for years and the article reminded me of how it perfectly fits in with pop sonnets. The song I am referring to is Taylor Swifts Love Story. The song to me has always summarized Romeo and Juliet and whenever I hear it I can picture Taylor Swift as Juliet in a white and gold dress in a fancy ballroom, and being swept off her feet by Romeo. The article also discusses how musicians with African-American roots (which I think all artists no matter what the race apply) use Shakespeare to explain their intentions. Shakespeare is also related to rap. Rap used powerful words, lyrics, and references to make bold political, playful, insulting, and rhythmic points. Shakespeare wrote very similar to rap because of the iambic pentameter, and he would express bold, political, hilarious, and sometimes insulting opinions and thoughts. Shakespeare has shaped our culture today, and without him I do not even want to imagine what music would be like.
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