Shakespeare

     Shakespeare was an English play-write and poet. He was born on April 23, 1564, and died on April 23, 1616. As a child, he attended grammar school begrudgingly. John Shakespeare and Mary Arden were the parents of William Shakespeare and his seven siblings. When he was 18, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway due to an illegitimate pregnancy. They were happily married and had 3 kids, Susanna, Hamnet, and Judith. For the early years of their marriage, the Shakespeare family lived with William's parents, because he couldn't keep a steady job.
     William traveled to London to start a career as an actor. He joined the Globe theater and became a successful actor. He regularly sent money back to Anne, for she never moved to the city. Although Shakespeare was an actor by trade, he wrote 39 plays. When the bubonic plague hit London, all the theaters were closed down, and William started writing sonnets. Poets were highly esteemed citizens, unlike controversial play-writes.
     While Shakespeare's plays were considered propaganda at the time, they are now wildly popular. His tragedies, comedies, and histories have been performed countless times and adapted into many movies. Shakespeare is the second most quoted author, after the writers of the Bible. His scripts have morphed into sayings used today. The timeless themes of his plays have inspired many aspiring writers all over the world.

Reformation

The Reformation was a period of change for religion in The Holy Roman Empire. People were furious at the corruption in the church. Some believed that the church shouldn't be the main religious authority. Some just didn't want to share power with the church. After the Great Schism, a division between the Roman church, leaders started new branches of Christianity.

John Wycliffe (1330-1384) was an English Scholar. He realized that the Great Schism was an opportunity for change, and he openly questioned the pope's authority. He believed that the bible was the true religious authority, and he translated it into English so normal people could read it. This enraged the pope, and John Wycliffe was accused of heresy.

Jan Hus (1370-1415) was a priest. He believed that the head of the church was Jesus. He wanted to return the church to the people. He wanted corruption among the people that officiated the church  to end, and he wanted mass to be offered in a language the people could understand. In 1415, he was burned at the stake.

Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) was an Italian mystic. She was an incredibly devoted, and had visions of god. She prayed for hours, and tried to end the Great Schism. Although she became a saint, her influence encouraged people to have personal spiritual experiences rather than church ones.

Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) was a priest from Holland. He published a book called "The Praise of Folly" that attacked church leaders. He wanted to return to Christian goodness. Although he didn't want to branch into different forms of Christianity, his influence prepared people for the reformation.

 Martin Luther was a German priest. He believed that salvation came from belief in god, not good works. Luther wrote the 95 theses against indulgences. He felt that indulgences were false salvation. Many were confused by his ideas, so he published pamphlets about his beliefs. He haggled that the bible was the true religious authority and that baptism and Eucharist were the only true sacraments. The Diet of Worms declared that Luther was a heretic, but his ideas still reached many. Later, he started Lutheranism.

Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531) was a Swiss priest. He convinced his government to ban any non-bible based worship and secede from the church. He believed that worship of relics, saints, statues, and painting were wrong. He thought church services should be free from music. When Swiss Catholics declared war on his town, Zwingli died in battle.

John Calvin (1509-1564) was a French humanist. He started  Calvinism, a strict religion based on the idea that god elected a lucky few to be saved. These people showed they were saved by acting without sin. The Calvinist branch inspired many other branches of Christianity.

King Henry VIII (1491-1547) was the King of England. He started the Church of England because he didn't want to share power. He also formed his own church because the pope denied him a divorce. He shut down all English Catholic monasteries.

Brunelleschi's dome

It

started

the

Renaissan

ce in Florence and 

sparked the Medici Le

gacy of patronage and spo

nsership of culture, a feat of

defying engineering accomplished

by an architect who looked to the

classical period for inspiration, build

ing orphanages with columns and ar

ches, Brunelleschi spurred the huma

nist revolution unkowingly as soon as

he built the dome at santa maria del

 fiore,the dome of Florence

Sonnet

A sonnet is a 14 line poem with 10 syllables per line. They were invented during the Italian Renaissance, and Shakespeare wrote many of them.

Renaissance Italy

Exhausted with living in the darkness

Tired of just surviving, cultureless

The Renaissance, like a candle that's lit

Hoarding great wealth, city-states benefit

Artists with a cause smear paint on canvas

Rich patrons beautify their new cities

Tools chisel stone, weapons long abandoned

Under a blanket of discovery

Lies an ever present feud, dividing

Radical Humanists against the church

But life continues with mirth, ignoring

New ideas are formed, thinkers rejoicing

Paranoid geniuses keep plans hidden

The dark is forgotten in the clamor

Florence Art Tour

This week, I went  on an art tour to see the famous works of artists that were sponsored by the Medici Family. The Medici family lived in Florence during the Renaissance. They were great patrons of art and culture. Because the Medici family revolutionized European life, some say that they were the godfathers of the renaissance. They left a legacy that changed history.

This painting is Prima Vera by Sandro Botticelli. He was one of Lorenzo Medici's favorite artists. This painting was controversial at the time because it didn't show biblical events. It portrayed a Pagan custom.

This is Donatello's David. It was the first freely standing bronze statue created during the Renaissance. It marked the beginning of art patronage.

Michelangelo was a student at the first ever art university in Florence. When he was just a teenager, Lorenzo Medici brought him under his wing. Lorenzo told Michelangelo to create non-biblical art, but Michelangelo refused. Instead, he painted works like this one, titled The Creation of Adam.

Leonardo Da Vinci was another artist patronized by the Medici family. He was interested in engineering as well as art. As a child, he helped a master artist create commissioned paintings. His use of vibrant colors set his work apart. Interested in human anatomy, he dissected multiple corpses.

On of Michelangelo's masterpieces is the ceiling of the Sistine chapel. He painted it at a time when Giovanni Medici was pope Leo X. The Medici's had religious power as well as being the despots of Florence. Leo X commissioned the ceiling in the Vatican to Michelangelo, who cynically obliged. He thought his time was better spent sculpting and. Although Michelangelo resented being forced to paint the Sistine chapel, it is now viewed as one of the greatest works of Renaissance Europe.

Haikus

A new age that sprouts

From the ruins of dark ages

A revolution

The Sistine Chapel
Michelangelo's great work
Sullenly painted

Medici family
Godfathers of Renaissance
Name brings resentment

Forced to deny truth
Or accept consequences
Catholic church rules

Florence, a city
of patronage and patrons
Beautiful

M10: Samurai School

     As a flashed into Japan with my best friend Lola, I heard the clash of swords and whoosh of arrows. We had stepped into a war zone. Heads lay rolling in pools of blood. Samurais in heavy armor fought against other samurais. Scared, we rushed to a sheltered tree. One dynamic samurai approached us. "Become a samurai to fight for Japan's freedom" he said. Intrigued, we agreed. He led us to a nearby pagoda, were samurai meditated in zen gardens. When we entered, we were assigned to a master, a fit young man with straight hair. "If you want to become a samurai, you must become mentally prepared first. You must learn to accept pain and you must develop a sixth sense." he said. Reluctantly, we all took a journey up a tall mountain. At the top, snow dusted the ground and we started shivering. We were directed to remove our shoes. Then we started to pick our way down the path.
     At the end of the 5 hour hike, my feet were numb. I couldn't feel anything. Blood ran in rivets from the cuts on our soles, and gravel stuck to our toes. The sight of my mangled body should have terrified me, but I felt nothing. "Congratulations." our master said. "You have stopped feeling. You will now learn to have a sixth sense." As we stood still, he took out a thin bamboo rod and whacked us with it, leaving red welts on our faces. "What the.." Lola said as he delivered another blow. The hits came again and again, until we learned to dodge them. After we avoided the rod 20 consecutive times, he set it down. "You now will be able to sense danger." he said. "Your mental training is complete."
     We had lessons in fencing and archery, and were deemed ready to fight. We were wrapped in multiple silk kimonos and covered in a thin armor made of metal plates. Leather shin guards were attached to our legs, and we walked to the battle field. I knew that I should have been nervous or excited, but I just felt numb. The fight had already started, so we picked an available opponent and advanced. With long, curved swords, we beat our foe to the ground. I dodged every blow and parried with vengeance. Our feet barely touching the ground, we struck down everyone in sight.
     After a few minutes, Lola and I split up to fight individually. My competitor was hard to beat, and I started panting. He blocked all my moves and advanced with quick hits. I kicked him and he became unbalanced. Taking advantage of the moment, I swung my sword through the air in a slow motion arc. Without thinking, I had aimed my sword at the bare curve of his neck. As blood escaped his throat, I realized what I had done. I felt my weapon slice through a last piece of cartilage, and his head fell into my lap. A strangled scream escaped me, and horror filled my veins. Suddenly, the emotion I had numbed myself too came back.
     I pushed the bloody carnage off of me. Lola backed away in disgust. Scared at what I had become, I ran away from the battle. I jumped in a nearby stream and ribbons of red washed off my clothes. I was against all types of killing. I didn't eat meat and avoided blood at all costs. I marveled at the emotionless killing machine I had become. The man I killed probably had a family at home, a wife waiting in terror when he didn't return. I  walked back to Lola and pulled her away from the continuing war. Although my friend was amazed at my behavior, she still followed me as we flashed back to 2012. I told her about how mental training had made me a zombie and how I now understood that it was good to feel emotion. Emotions are the only things stopping people from killing without mercy. She forgave me, and admitted that she had stabbed a guy in the leg. "Just like Cato stabbing Peeta" she laughed. We both vowed never to fight without reason again.