Skip to content

Our 2024 Print Your Own Calendar is now on sale! Buy now!

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

Sonnet 18

To many, he was simply “The Bard”, but most of us know him as Shakespeare, and the manner of speaking that was prevalent throughout his works is singularly recognizable. There was a great myth that came along with Shakespearean plays, a myth that shaped the voice of the era in the minds of all the generations that to follow. National Talk Like Shakespeare Day encourages you to embody this myth and to spend the entirety of the day speaking forsoothly!

Learn about National Talk Like Shakespeare Day

As the name indicates, National Talk Like Shakespeare Day encourages you to talk like the literary genius himself! William Shakespeare is the most famous and celebrated poet and playwright in the world. He was born on the 23rd of April in 1564, and he is still honored to this day. His stories are often studied in schools, and many people have memories of going to the theater and watching a Shakespeare play. So, there is no better way to honor Shakespeare than by dedicating yourself to speaking like him on this day.

Of course, speaking like Shakespeare is not easy! If you have ever read one of his plays, you will know exactly what we are talking about. However, there are a number of tricks that you can use to speak like Shakespeare on this day. For example, instead of using the words they and you, you can use the words ye, thee, and thou. Creative insults and rhyming couplets were very popular within his work as well, so you are encouraged to use these on National Talk Like Shakespeare Day. In fact, did you know that a lot of the phrases that we use today are owed to Shakespeare?

History of National Talk Like Shakespeare Day

This day has been celebrated since 2009. This is when the first National Talk Like Shakespeare Day was launched by the Shakespeare Theater in Chicago. The day was inspired by another day that was honored to speaking like a character; Talk Like a Pirate Day. The theater company decided that since we have a day when we speak like pirates, we should most definitely have a day when we talk like Shakespeare! A lot of theaters all over the world honor this day with various events and celebrations.

The myth of which we speak is the prevalent idea that the entirety of people in Shakespeare’s day spoke like those in his plays. The truth of the matter is that the speech and spelling used in Shakespeare’s day had very little resemblance to that speech used in his works. It was a sort of ‘stage voice’ that was created to romanticize the play and to lend them greater impact on the ears of those who attended them. Regardless, it has been largely believed in the years that followed that this was the speech of the day.

National Talk Like Shakespeare Day encourages us to embody that speech, and to bring the stage to all the world that we live in. After all, “All the world ‘s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” This celebration is your opportunity to bring that concept to life and to regale your friends and companions with the rich and colorful speech of Shakespeare’s works. After all, if you cannot bring the people to the Globe Theater, then you can bring the Globe Theater to the people!

How to celebrate National Talk Like Shakespeare Day

Speak, Speak, Thou Noble and wise personage! Speak to thy fellows in a tongue rich with color and passion. Use not thy quiet voice today, whispering in the shadows like some fool painting numbers on a wall. Instead let thy pathos ring loud and true, shower those thou lovest with words like rose petals, and prick the skin of thy enemies with jibes like barbs on a legionnaires spear!

There are a number of other ways that you can honor National Talk Like Shakespeare Day. You could, for example, read one of his works. This will certainly help you to get a better grasp of the language he used. There are so many famous and amazing plays written by Shakespeare. This includes everything from Hamlet and Macbeth to Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, The Tempest, and Julius Caesar. There are also a lot of his plays that have been turned into films as well, so you can watch them on the big screen instead if you would prefer.

You could also use this day as an opportunity to try your hand at becoming the next Shakespeare. There are bound to be a lot of poetry competitions running around this date. Shakespeare was famous for his sonnets. A sonnet is a 14-line poem that is made up of one couplet and three quatrains. Try putting together your own sonnet and enter it into a competition on National Talk Like Shakespeare Day to see how you do! There are 154 sonnets that have been written by William Shakespeare, and so you are not going to be short of inspiration.

True it may be that they will look upon you strangely, but such is the peril of casting pearls before swine! National Talk Like Shakespeare Day is the time for your inner thespian to shine!

Also on ...

View all holidays
View all holidays

We think you may also like...

Calendar