Stratford's glockenspiel performs scenes from Romeo and Juliet four times a day.
Shakespeare.
Are his works really the be all and end all? Or would you like to bid him, and his plays, good riddance? If you don't like his work, is that the green-eyed monster speaking or is there really such a thing as too much of a good thing?
Is it a foregone conclusion his works are dead as a doornail?
Well, if the above few sentences made at least some sense to you it would appear not, for the majority of the well-known phrases I used to make my point came directly from Shakespeare's own quill.
Shakespeare's words may, at first glance, seem old-fashioned and perhaps even out of step with modern life, but many of his words live on in our language today. Some words, such as rant, puking, addiction, obscene and bedazzled for example, first appeared in his works, as did many phrases we still use today.
If you have ever wished something could "vanish into thin air" (Othello), described someone as having "a heart of gold" (Henry V) or complained you've "not slept one wink" (Cymbeline) then you are quoting Shakespeare. In fact, if you are reading this and thinking "for goodness sake' get on with it - sorry to break it to you- for goodness sake first made an appearance in Shakespeare's Henry VIII.