23rd April: Shakespeare Day in United Kingdom
Many fans and enthusiasts of William Shakespeare, who was one of England’s greatest poets and dramatists, celebrate National Shakespeare Day, also known as Shakespeare Day, on April 23 each year. April 23 is also St George’s Day and the United Nations’ World Book and Copyright Day.
William Shakespeare was born on 23rd April 1564 and died on the 23rd April 1616.
Shakespeare, whom is known as “Britain’s greatest playwright and poet”. wrote comedies, such as a Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as tragedies such as M, acbeth, Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet and poetry. Much of his work has been seen in modern-day theatre, the ballet and in modern films. His plays have been translated in many different languages across the world.
Here you are some of his greatest sonnets:
Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day?
by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
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 dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
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
¿Cómo Compararte a un Día de Verano?
¿Cómo compararte a un día de verano?
Más hermosura y suavidad posees.
Tiembla el brote de mayo bajo el viento
Y el estío no dura casi nada.
A veces demasiado brilla el ojo
Solar, y otras su tez de oro se apaga;
Toda belleza alguna vez declina,
Ajada por la suerte o por el tiempo.
Pero eterno será el verano tuyo.
No perderás la gracia, ni la Muerte
se jactará de ensombrecer tus pasos
Cuando crezcas en versos inmortales.
Vivirás mientras alguien vea y sienta
Y esto pueda vivir y te dé vida.
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun (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 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.
Los ojos de mi amada (Soneto 130)
De William Shakespeare
No son como soles los ojos de mi amada
Ni como el coral sus labios rojos
Si la nieve es blanca, por qué sus senos son de color pardo
Si los cabellos son finos como cables,
Por qué negros alambres crecen en su cabeza
He admirado rosas blancas y rojas
mas nunca en sus mejillas encuentro tales cosas
Y en algunos perfumes, existe más deleite,
que en ese dulce aliento que emana de mi amada.
Amo escuchar su voz y sin embargo, entiendo,
que la música tiene un sonido más agradable
No he visto caminar por la tierra a una diosa:
Mi amada cuando camina, camina con firmeza
Y sin embargo, oh cielo, pienso que mi amada única
que no existe en el mundo, nadie que la iguale.
