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/lit/ - Literature

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557052 No.557052 [Reply] [Original]

My english teacher once asked us why we thought he was so popular, and he only wanted our opinion and didn't give his.

So I ask you /lit/, why is this guy so popular?

inb4 "becuz he's good"

He's more fun to watch than to read anyway.

>> No.557068

>>557052
He practically revolutionized the English language bringing it to the forefront of modern life, expanding the English vocabulary and founding a piece of art that has been come to know as the only things produced during the Renaissance within England.

Also cause Hamlet raped your mom.

>> No.557065

he has a cool nickname

BILLY MOTHAFUCKIN SHAKES

>> No.557075

Because literary scholars love drunken faggots.

>> No.557078

>>557068
> He practically revolutionized the English language bringing it to the forefront of modern life
How?

> expanding the English vocabulary
How?

> founding a piece of art that has been come to know as the only things produced during the Renaissance within England.
Which is called?

>> No.557083

>> expanding the English vocabulary
>How?

He invented 500 words and the concept of pooping on a woman's chest.

>> No.557088

>>557078
He invented half of the fucking words in the English language.
Also, his plays deal with human nature and have incredibly memorable storylines and characters and have set up modern archetypes that have been used for the past 400 years. How many times have you seen a book or movie that was based off of Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet?
The guy was a bro.

>> No.557094

I've just always thought it was amazing that his plays were equally enjoyed by royalty and peasants.

And also, his sonnets are simply beautiful. His use of iambic pentameter just makes them flow so well.
Of course, he isn't the only one to have ever written sonnets.. but his are truly wonderful.

I stole raspberries from his garden in Stratford-Upon-Avon. They were delicious.

>> No.557097

>>557088
Wrong.

All his plots were complete rip offs from older already well known stories.

You fail miserable.

>> No.557098

>>557083
more like 1500 hundred words.

>> No.557102

>>557078
First two rebuttals of yours are just retarded, but if you be trolling carry on.

Anyway here's some stuff from a 2 second google search noting Shakespeare influence, the English Renaissance aka "The age of Shakespeare".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Renaissance

>> No.557107

>>557097

And yet people credit them to him. Guess who won at history, nigger!

>> No.557109

>>557097
Sure, but he made them extremely common and known to all elements of his society.

>> No.557114

I'm always amazed at the amount of figurative language Shakespeare uses.

>> No.557118

>>557097
Indeed he did, however he did not plagiarize material bro, The Comedy of Errors and Romeo and Juliet have direct links to poems and greek plays yet they're a new piece of work.

By your logic all his Historical plays are "rip offs" because he wrote them about previous events in History.

>> No.557126

>>557068
>Also cause Hamlet raped your mom.

Settles it for me Shakespeare's awesome, my Moms tough and damn hard to rape.

>> No.557130

>>557102
They weren't rebuttals. I was asking you questions because I didn't understand.

But since you seem like one of those people who thinks the world is a debate club I don't really care what you have to say about it.

>> No.557134

there are few authors as consistently good as him. i mean nearly all of his work is pretty damn good and he wrote a fuckton.

>> No.557140

say something about inb4 television.

>> No.557145

My teacher in high school said he was famous because the queen seen one of his plays and fell in love with his work.

>> No.557147

>>557130
Sweet I won the debate.

>> No.557151
File: 106 KB, 500x300, facepalm.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
557151

>>557097

> implying re-writing old stories wasn't done by everyone, and considered standard practice up until romanticism came along.

Dipshit.

>> No.557153

>>557109
>>557107
That doesn't mean the plots make him good.

>>557118
That can be applied to anything. The nature of plagiarism is a whole other topic.

>> No.557155

>>557151
Again
>>557153

>> No.557160

It's not that hard to see why Shakespeare was, is, and will always be popular. His writing had innumerable amounts of wit, humility, drama, and eloquence. What more could you want in a writer?

>> No.557161

Shakespeare didn't even publish his own plays.

>> No.557162

>>557153
Yeah, it wasn't just the plots, it was the way he wrote his plays and his characters that made them seem all lifelike and what not.
If people now can enjoy a 400 year old play, he was doing something right.

>> No.557163

>>557160
Someone whom I could understand and appreciate without my brain cracking.

>> No.557165

>>557163
If you find Shakespeare hard to read, you probably don't read good literature.

>> No.557167

>>557162
I can agree with the lifelike part, but popularity is not an adequate gauge for quality. Need we bring up Twilight again?

>> No.557169
File: 40 KB, 400x300, the-very-hungry-caterpillar400x300.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
557169

>>557163

Try this.

>> No.557177

>>557163

Try chaucer, then come back.

>> No.557173

>>557163

Also, shakespeare should be seen performed to be appreciated fully.

>> No.557179

>>557167
Twilight will most likely not last in the same way Shakespeare has for 400 years. If it does, you officially win the argument.

>> No.557180

>>557160
>Shakespeare was
Correction, Shakespeare wasn't always popular. In fact, he didn't become popular among literary critics until the Romantics brought him back because his melodrama fit their idealism. And he wasn't well known around the world until much later, in the 20th century, when his name was spread as the British Empire spread.

>> No.557181

>>557165
>>557169
Lots of people just can't understand it. Doesn't mean I have bad taste. I'm reading Catch 22, which is a perfectly good novel, but not inaccessible in any way.

>> No.557188

>>557173
I already brought that up.

>>557179
Okay then, would you say the same thing about the bible?

>> No.557189

>>557160
>Shakespeare was, is, and will always be popular
Shakespeare wasn't always popular in the past.
His popularity has mainly peaked during modern times.
And there's no guarantee he'll be popular in the future. Plenty of popular writers from past centuries are completely obscure today.

>> No.557198

>>557189

>His popularity has mainly peaked during modern times.

hahaha oh wow

>> No.557199

Tolstoy believed he gained popularity because Goethe was a fan and everything Goethe did was the "in" thing.

>> No.557206
File: 208 KB, 800x642, hipsters.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
557206

>>557199

>everything Goethe did was the "in" thing.

>> No.557205

I hate his romantic comedies, and the melodramatic romances in general. Romeo and Juliet? Contrived bullshit. And fuck Midsummer Night's Dream with a rusty chainsaw. I'll grant he had creative and intelligent use of language, but some of his plays are shit.

Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, etc. are fucking awesome, but it's always better performed. I know we all read Julius Caesar in sophmore year or whatever, but I still love it.

>> No.557200

ITT people who don't realize that during Shakespeare's time, his work was considered mediocre and no one could guess he'd be thought of as "the greatest writer that ever lived" centuries after.

Then again, the same could be said of Dickinson, who was considered an amateur poet, and who was known more for her gardening in her lifetime than for her poetry.

>> No.557209

>>557198
>implying you can predict Shakespeare's reputation in the future anymore that I can

>> No.557212

>>557200

Dickinson is mainly due to the part where she only published like a dozen poems and many of them were done anonymously

>> No.557213

>>557209

>implying he wasn't more popular in his own time than now

>> No.557217

>>557206
holy shit that's funny

>> No.557224

>why is this guy so popular

Because GRIMDARK and SWORDS

>> No.557227

>>557213
He wasn't. He was considered inferior to Philip Sidney and Edmund Spencer. And hardly anyone knew him outside of England.

>> No.557244

English isn't even my first language and even I know that the entire modern English vocabulary and written form are basically laid down in his work.

>> No.557246

>>557227

I don't think using international popularity is appropriate for comparison given the whole they didn't even have telephones thing back then

And critical opinion doesn't count when it comes to popularity

>> No.557247

>>557227
>implying anyone outside of England knew ANY of the great English writers in those days

>> No.557259

>>557247
King Arthur was popular in France, but that doesn't really count, does it. Europeans considered the English to be shit tier, up until the point that they started the Industrial Revolution and took over the world.

>> No.557277

>>557246
>And critical opinion doesn't count when it comes to popularity
So essentially Shakespeare was the Dickens of his day.

>> No.557279

>>557277

Well he didn't intentionally draw out his narratives to get more money

And his characters are usually a lot more complex

>> No.557281

Basically, no matter what negatives you have about him, he's fucking Shakespeare.
Your argument is invalid.

>> No.557289
File: 13 KB, 436x291, shakespeare_sonnets_bonnets.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
557289

>> No.557290
File: 23 KB, 300x407, 2007_03_arts_shakespeare.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
557290

>>557281

THIS.

>> No.557296

>>557281
Shakespeare was no Shakespeare

He was Marlowe

>> No.557297

>>557281
>implying that, as the British Empire is long gone, and the American Empire moribund, Shakespeare will continually be considered the greatest writer of all time, and not some obscure chink or sandnigger writer

>> No.557307

>>557297
I didn't imply any of that.
Fuck, I get the whole implying thing, but it gets to the point where people just project ridiculous statements.
I can deal with him not being the "greatest writer of all time," that's true enough, but he's probably the most influential writer of all time, at least to English speaking authors.

>> No.557326

>>557307
>most influential writer of all time
>of all time
>of all time
That's a very bold statement. I mean, civilization's only existed for some 5000 years. That's a fraction of how long it could potentially last. Unless English dies out in the next century, he's going to have a lot of competition.

>> No.557330

>>557326
Okay. So far in time. And in English. Happy?

>> No.557334
File: 14 KB, 436x291, shakespeare_prose_hos.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
557334

>> No.557343

>>557097

>All his plots were complete rip offs from older already well known stories

More like, he rescued good plots from shitty authors.

>> No.557344

>>557206
What is this comic from?

>> No.557345
File: 46 KB, 500x365, kanye-west-grill-glasses-3..jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
557345

>>557326
OF ALL TIME

>> No.557347

>>557344
Looks like Hark! A Vagrant by Kate something.

>> No.557354

>>557347
Kate Beaton you heathen.

She is so adorable. ;_;

>> No.557363

>>557354
well sorry

>> No.557376
File: 151 KB, 800x605, 1268822920097.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
557376

>>557347
thanks I've been looking for it for a while

>> No.557391
File: 38 KB, 350x567, eleanor4eva.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
557391

>>557363
She is so adorable.

If I ever met her, I'd do so many horrible things to her. Pic related, it's her.

>> No.557408

>>557391
She looks like a little girl you sick pedo fuck

>> No.557456
File: 270 KB, 800x670, edwinboothfinal.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
557456

>> No.557464

>>557408

>I myself am a pedo and immediately accuse others of being pedos so no one will find out about me.

>> No.557467

>>557408
>calling a 30+ year old woman a little girl
wat

>> No.557474

>>557467
the statement was that she looks like one in the pic

>> No.557478

>>557474
>implying you wouldn't fuck an older woman who looked like a teenager

>> No.557479

This went from Shakespeare to pedophilia implications.
Yaaaaaay /lit/

>> No.557481

>>557479

You're a pedo!

>> No.557482

>>557479

>this is 4chan

>> No.557501

>>557482

pedofil