My name is Tayler Boelk and I am a recent graduate from the St. Scholastica with a B.A. in English. My senior year was filled with classes on Shakespeare, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and other famous English poets, novelists, and artists so my first visit across the pond could not have come at a better time. I am most excited to be taking this journey with two good friends, Alex and Karissa, so be sure to check out their posts as well.
Today we took the Shakespeare walking tour around London visiting some of the most well-known and the least-known locations associated with Shakespeare. The picture above is a bust in memory of two of his good friends and colleagues who are responsible for compiling the First Folio. It was very interesting to learn more about this as one of the copies of the First Folio visited Duluth last Fall and I got a chance to see it. Without the First Folio, many of Shakespeares plays would have been lost forever including The Tempest. Without Shakespeare, many words might have never existed as well including: unreal, circumstantial, assassination, lonely, reclusive, and even alligator. While there is no way of knowing if he made them up entirely, it was definitely the first time they were put into print which is pretty cool. In addition to these great fun facts, our tour guide also told us a lot about Shakespeares life and showed us several places where he lived and wrote his works. What was especially interesting was that Shakespeare made a TON of money. He was not the starving artist we all remember him as! There are also several conspiracies around his existence as well as his sexual escapades, but you'll have to take the tour to hear more about those.
I think it is so interesting, how many of the words we take as common vocabulary we owe to Shakespeare! That fact impressed me when Declan mentioned it on the tour. I also did not realize Shakespeare was so well off, I think it's incredible he owned so many properties in London. I wish the country did a better job of preserving his history for us and future generations, such as putting the plaque back that was taken down during World War II. Although, I do think it's fair that it will take the world a long while to forget about William Shakespeare, even with a lack of plaques.
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