My Featured Poem

To Be Or Not To Be

- A soliloquy from William Shakespeare's play 'Hamlet'

To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them?

To die: to sleep;

No more; and, by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to, tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished.

To die, to sleep;

To sleep perchance to dream, ay, there's the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause.

There's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life;

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The pangs of disprized love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin?

Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscovered country from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will,

And make us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;

And Is sicklied o'er

With the pale cast of thought

And enterprises of great pith and moment

With this regard their currents turn away,

And lose the name of action.


(Movie Ver.)

(Musical Ver.)

I. About the Poem

'To Be Or Not To Be' is the most famous sentence of 'Hamlet'
'Hamlet' was written by Shakespeare in around 1600.
'To Be Or Not To Be' is the question of this poem.
'To Be Or Not To Be' means 'Live Or Die'

Works Cited （参考文献）

Hamlet-Wikipedia[Accessed 10 October 2016]

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%8F%E3%83%A0%E3%83%AC%E3%83%83%E3%83%88

II. About the Author

William Shakespeare(26 April 1564ー23 April 1616) is a very popular playwright.
He's from England.
He is the person of represent the Renaissance theater.
Enormous work that was leaving him, has also become a valuable linguistic materials on to known the actual situation of the Early Modern English. 

Works Cited （参考文献）

William Shakespeare[Accessed 10 October 2016]
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A3%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A2%E3%83%A0%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B7%E3%82%A7%E3%82%A4%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9%E3%83%94%E3%82%A2

IV. My Reaction

A. Reaction Point -hyperbole(誇張）
This poet uses hyperbole.

• Definition→ exaggeration
• Example（in this poet)→ To die, to sleep
• 'To Be Or Not To Be' in this poem is the most important thing for author. This sentence can be find easy because it is repeated so many times. So, I thought it's hyperbole.

B. Reaction Point -Rhyme（韻）
 In this poem, use many 'TO'.

• Definition→ the repetition of sounds at the ends of words.
• Example→ TO die, TO sleep,TO be etc..
• Easy to read in the rhythmic. I get energetic when I read this poem.

C. Reaction Point - connotation(含意）
'To Be Or Not To Be' has a lot of interpretation.

• Definition→ the feelings associated with a word
• Example→ 'To Be Or Not To Be' means 'Live Or Die'.
• 'To Be Or Not To Be ' is not easy to understand, but use connotation, it change to easy to understand.This sentence takes on a deep connotation.

D. My General Opinion
I like this poem very much because I think it's strong and deep meanings. Almost every person would thought 'To Be Or Not To Be'.
This poem has so many powerful words.
So it will be unforgettable once if people read this poem.
When I read this poem, I was really touched!