George Herbert

George Herbert was born April 3, 1593. He was one of ten children that his mother had to raise alone after his father passed away when he was only 3 years old. His mother was also close to another famous poet, John Donne, he dedicated his work The Holy Sonnets to her. George went on to graduate college and take a role with the church. He married Jane Danvers in 1629. He wrote poetry that was of the religous nature. He died at the early age of 40 in 1633.http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/628

The following is one of his poems that I found very lovely and I thought I would share it. It is called Bitter-Sweet :

Ah, my dear angry Lord,
Since thou dost love, yet strike;
Cast down, yet help afford;
Sure I will do the like.

I will complain, yet praise;
I will bewail, approve;
And all my sour-sweet days
I will lament and love.

This poem to me symbolizes the feelings that I like most people feel for God. He will give you bumps in the road ,yet he will help you as well. It shows how you should take what he gives you and still rejoice in his love for letting you live. This may not be the right way to read this but it is my way of interpreting it.
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/bitter-sweet/

Romeo and Juliet

In 1996 there was a modern day twist on the classic play written by William Shakespeare. It was Romeo and Juliet. This film starred Leonardo Dicaprio as Romeo and Claire Danes as Juliet. The story is the same, two young teens fall in love and the problem is that their families are enemies, The Capulets and The Montagues. In the film adaptation it contains modern guns where as in the original it was swords. The young lovers are torn between their families hatred toward one another and the love they feel for each other. They sneak around so that their families can not find out and end up having sex. Then Juliet is told that she will marry Paris. She comes up with a plan to drink a drug that will put her in a coma like state for a few hours so everyone will think she is dead and that she will get out of marrying Paris. There was suppose to be someone that told Romeo of her plans so he would know that she was really not dead but he does not get the message. He finds out about her death and goes to the church where her body is. He ends up drinking real poison and killing hisself. Then Juliet wakes up and sees what he has done so she shoots herself in the head. This is a great way to look at the play with a new spin but still carries the same message.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117509/

Hamlet

Hamlet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. Hamlet is about a prince that his father dies and his father’s brother Claudius now has the throne. Claudius has also married his mother, Gertrude. Hamlet is visited by a ghost that is his father. He tells him that Claudius had murdered him. Now poor Hamlet is trying to avenge his father’s murder. Hamlet ends up going mad. At one point he kills Polonius. Polonius is Ophelia’s father and then Ophelia is grieving for her dad and kills herself in the river, because Hamlet killed Polonius Claudius banished Hamlet and orders his two friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to kill him. The friends do not do this and Hamlet ends up going back to the castle in time for Ophelia’s funeral. Hamlet’s mother ends up dyeing, when she drinks poison then during a fight Hamlet kills Claudius and then he dies as well. I would also like to point out that I believe that Hamlet is a tragic hero. He fits all the characteristics set forth by Aristotle. This is a great play that is very sad. All that Hamlet was trying to do the entire time was to avenge his fathers death. In the end he did accomplish this but so many other people ended up dying.
http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564. He was born at Strafford upon Avon. He went on to marry Anne when he was only 18 years old. It is specualted that Anne was already pregnant when she married William. This would have been frowned upon very badly at this time in England. He had three children, Susanna and then a set of twins, Hamnet and Judith. William started out by being an actor. He later gained more fame for his writings. Just about everyone is familiar with some of his works.Just to name a few dramaswould include: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Othelo. He had much more but those are just a few that most people have heard of. He also wrote poems, sonnets, and comedies.William passed away on April 23,1616. He left most of his estate to his oldest daughter, Susanna. There was strict instructions that it go on to the oldest son of hers.Which she never had so there was no more direct line after that. He did leave his wife, Ann only 1/3 of his estate and his "second best bed," which was more of an insult than a gift.http://www.shakespeare-literature.com/