Tuesday

Jun. 29, 1999

Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?

by William Shakespeare

Broadcast Date: TUESDAY: June 29, 1999

Poem: Sonnet XVIII, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?," by William Shakespeare.

It's the birthday in Manchester, England, 1948, of poet JOHN ASH, who taught writing at grade schools around Manchester for several years, writing his poems on the side, then moved to New York in 1985. Since then he's come out with several collections, including Disbelief, The Burnt Pages: and, his latest, A Byzantine Journey, from a couple years ago. He says "Americans in general are much more open than the English. English politeness can be unbearable. In New York you can say exactly what you feel and people won't think you're weird. They're all doing it too."

It's the birthday in Florence, Italy, 1930, of the writer ORIANNA FALLACI, best known for her 1979 book, A Man, about her lover, the Greek poet and Resistance leader Alexandros Panagoulis, after he was killed in 1976.

It's the birthday in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, 1912 of historian and novelist JOHN TOLAND, author of several books about the world wars, including The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945, which won the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction; also No Man's Land: 1918, The Last Year of the Great War; and the novel Gods of War.

It's the birthday in Lyon, France, 1900, of the writer and aviator, ANTOINE de SAINT-EXUPERY, author of The Little Prince (1943) and Wind, Sand, and Stars (1939).

It was on this day in 1613 that THE GLOBE THEATRE in London burned, the place where nearly all of Shakespeare's plays were premiered.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

 

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