The Influence of Jewish Mysticism Essay Example for Free

The Influence of Jewish Mysticism Essay Mystics know and experience God in a very different way than the ordinary believer. Whereas the ordinary believer knows God in an objective, concrete manner as embodied in nature or via sacred scriptures, the mystic knows God by personal, one to one contact between their own spirit (soul) and the spirit of God; heart to heart, or as Augustine called it, â€Å"cor ad cor loquitur.† Because of the one to one, highly individualized nature of this experience, one might think the mystic would exist outside of the domain of the major religions of the world. That, in fact, is not the case. Mystics are most often allied with one of the major world religions, including (but not limited to) the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The mystic’s conceptions of God do not only come from the small voice speaking to him in the silence of his soul. Instead, the mystic combines these esoteric experiences with the teachings and traditions of their religion. Much has been written on the comparability between the mystics of the differing world religions, noting that the only differences between them stem from the underlying religion itself. The overarching practice of seeking to actually experience what philosophers call the â€Å"Absolute truth†, (what theologians refer to as God), seems to know no theological boundaries. A Christian mystic seeks the same â€Å"beyond human† communion with the Trinity as the Jewish mystic does with YWEH, and the Muslim mystic does with Allah. The theology of Christianity differs from the llm al-Kalam of Islam and the theology of Judaism in the same ways, whether the believer is a mystic or not. Hence, the principal differences that separate the mystics of the world are the same as the differences that separate all believers. My research seeks not to explain, compare, or contrast the mystics of the differing religions, as I mentioned that much has been written on that subject already, but rather to examine how the mystics of one religion (Judaism) influenced the foundation and theoretical framework of another religion (Christianity). 1. Authority Mysticism is not a term that an ancient mystic himself would use to describe his realm of religiosity. In that regard, mysticism as we have come to understand and know it through most primary sources is not emic (or in their own words), and therefore very difficult to accurately investigate using a hermeneutic approach. The Essenes, for example, did not label themselves â€Å"mystics† in ancient Jerusalem. Our account of them as mystics comes from a purely etic (outside observers) viewpoint. In addition, the literature on early Jewish and Christian mysticism is not the possession of a single religious community, or maintained by a single religious community. While there is mounting evidence that the main origins of mystic tradition were in Jewish priestly circles, most of the literature on the subject of mysticism is from a variety of esoteric Jews and Christians over the course of several centuries. Making the matter more difficult is the amount of pseudepigrapha in â€Å"pr imary† Jewish sources. While this problem also exists in Christian sources, is seems to be more of a roadblock to the student of Jewish mysticism, as most scholars agree that the predominant primary source on the topic, The Zohar, is pseudepigraphical. The Zohar is the primary piece of reference for a sect of Jewish mystics called Kabbalaists, refers to historical events of the post-Talmudic period while purporting to be from an earlier time. Because of the difficulty, then f obtaining a primary source detailing what has come to be known as Jewish mysticism, sacred texts such as the Tanakh and the Bible themselves are used frequently as a main source of information. Therefore, primary sources used for my research in the area of Jewish mysticism include The Talmud, including portions of the Midrash and the Tanakh (The Hebrew Bible). Contained within the Talmud is the Torah. Very helpful to my understanding of these texts were writings by Josepus , a first century Jewish hagiographer, theologian and scholar. Christian primary sources include an Interlinear Greek-English New Testament of the Bible with a parallel column in the New Revised Standard Version, as well as excerpts by Origen, and Gregory of Nyssa, both Fathers of the Early Christian Church. A basic framework for my understanding of Jewish and Christian mysticism includes secondary sources by Joshua Abelson and Evelyn Underhill. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism was helpful in clarifying Jewish terms that I was unfamiliar with. 2. Jewish Mysticism History The beginning of Jewish mysticism is usually linked to the Essenes, a sect of the Second Temple Jews. Known by the Greeks as the â€Å"Holy Ones†, these mysterious Jews are now assumed to be the original keepers of the Dead Sea Scroll library. The sect was closed to society, and was dominated by hereditary priests who had to go through multiple rites of purification before being accepted into the sect. According to Josephus, the Essenes were one of three sects among the Jews at the time of Christ who â€Å" †¦Had different opinions concerning human actions; the one was called the sect of the Pharisees, another the sect of the Sadducees, and the other the sect of the Essenes. Now for the Pharisees, they say that some actions, but not all, are the work of fate, and that some of them are in our own power, and that they are liable to fate, but are not caused by fate. But the sect of the Essenes affirms that fate governs all things, and that nothing befalls men but what is according to its determination. And for the Sadducees, they take away fate, and they say there is no such thing, and that the events of human affairs are not at it’s disposal; but they suppose that all of our actions are in our power, so that we ourselves are the cause of what is good, and receive evil from our own folly.† This clearly illustrates marked difference between the three sects. Josephus later stated that the Essenes were interpreters of dreams, and were very diligent in the reading of the sacred books. Philo of Alexandria, who often tried to reconcile Jewish exegesis with Stoic philosophy, wrote this of the Essenes: â€Å"Of natural philosophy, the Essenes only study that which pertains to the existence of God and the beginning of all things, otherwise they devote all their attention to ethics, using as instructors the laws of their fathers, which, without the outpouring of the Divine Spirit, the human mind could not have devised†¦for, following their ancient traditions, they obtain their philosophy by means of allegorical interpretations†¦ Of the love of God they exhibit myriads of examples, inasmuch as they strive for a continued uninterrupted life of purity and holiness; they avoid swearing and falsehood, and they declare God causes only good and no evil whatsoever†¦no one possesses a house absolutely as his own, one which does not at the same time belong to all; for, in addition to living together in companies, their houses are open also to their adherents coming from other quarters. They have a storehouse for all, and the same diet; their garments belong to all in common, and their meals are taken in common.† Clearly, this sect of Judaism combined mystical speculation with an ascetic mode of life.   Merkabah (chariot) mysticism came into being in the early second century. Merkabah mysticism used as its framework a vision of God experienced by Ezekiel, and told in great detail in Ezekiel Chapters 1-5. â€Å"In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. 2 On the fifth of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin— 3 the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There the hand of the LORD was on him. 4 I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, 5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, 6 but each of them had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, 9 and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved. 10 Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. 11 Such were their faces. They each had two wings spreading out upward, each wing touching that of the creature on either side; and each had two other wings covering its body. 12 Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they wen t. 13 The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. 14 The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning. 15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. 16 This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. 17 As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. 18 Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around. 19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. 20 Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21 When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 22 Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome. 23 Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. 24 When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings. 25 Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. 26 Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. 27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.† For the Jewish mystics of the 1st and 2nd centuries, Ezekiel’s image of YWEH riding upon a chariot of the â€Å"living creatures† was outside the range of the deepest esoteric experiences of all of the other Old Testament personages. The chariot was interpreted as an invitation from the Divine to man to come and experience the secret which he so desperately seeks: the experience of the Absolute, the being of God himself. The idea that God is the first one to initiate a union of man and God, or has â€Å"called† one’s soul to unite with the divine, is important to all mystics. The chariot, then, is a allegorical vehicle to carry one to the unseen. Every mystic wants to be the chariot rider, to be carried to his ultimate union with the divine. However, as Joshua Ableson points out in his commentary on the Merkavah mystics â€Å"it was believed that he could only undertake this Merkavah-ride, who was in possession of all religious knowledge, observed all the commandments and precepts and was almost superhuman in the purity of his life.† While these roots of Merkavah mysticism were planted firmly in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, they did not bloom and flourish until the 7th- 11th centuries. Since that time, much has been speculated about the meaning of the chariot. Was it a true vision or an experiential event? Does the text hold hidden meaning with each description holding significance for the future? Is the text eschatological? Some modern day occult claim the Merkavah was not a chariot but an alien spaceship! It is understandable why this passage, in the midst of literature that is otherwise devoid of dramatic and colorful descriptions would attract such attention and speculation. Although it is outside the scope of the time period this article seeks to examine, a mention must be made to the ultimate expression of Jewish mysticism: Kabbalah. Kabbalah is an esoteric gnostic occult that emerged in medieval Spain in the 12th century. Kabbalistic teachings look to The Zohar as their primary source of inspiration. The Zohar is a commentary of the Torah, (the first five books of the Old Testament). A Spanish Jew by the name of Moses de Leon attributed the book to a 2nd century Rabbi by the name of Shimon bar Yochai, but scholars are now in general agreement that de Leon penned the work himself. The practices and beliefs of 15th century Kabbalists had much influence on Christian mystics and the Humanist movement (as well modern day New-Age Hollywood!) The Kabbalah school of thought attempts to explain the relationship between an unchanging external, mysterious YWEH (known as Ein Sof) and the mortal, finite universe, by seeking to define the nature of the universe and the human being, the nature and purpose of existence, and various other ontological questions. Given, however that this article seeks to examine the influence of the Jewish mystics on the early Christian Church, I will stick to sects of Jewish mysticism that took place between 500 BCE and 400 CE, that is, the Essenes and the Merkavah. 3. Connections It is easy to find the similarities between the three Abrahamic religions. The mere fact that they are categorized together under the same heading within world religions indicates enough of a resemblance to one another, even beyond their homogeneous beginnings. It would not be new or even controversial for me to suggest a sequential, linear progression from Judaism to Christianity to Islam. My research does not aim to reinforce these arguments, but rather to look deeper. What specific aspects of Judaism continue on into the Christian faith? It is here where I draw a distinction in that there are, as mentioned above, fundamental differences between the sects of Judaism at the time of Christ. I argue that the mystic sects of Judaism, (the Essenes and the Merkavah’s), are the factions of Judaism that influenced the formation and practices of early Christianity the most. Specifically, there are three principal dimensions of early Jewish mysticism that are also primary in early Christianity. These dimensions are an incorporation of the speculative, the experiential and the practical. 3a. The Speculative The first dimension of the two religions is speculation, that is, the search for the absolute truth and revealed nature of the identity of God. This speculation also includes a quest for both the cosmogony (origins) and the cosmology (organization) of the universe. This dimension is most realized in the esoteric followers of both religions. The centerpiece of the cosmogony of the identity of God in mystic Judaism is that God has a â€Å"body.† This body is known as the Kavod of YHWH. The esoteric interpretation of the Kavod is that of a vision of a divine form created by the invisible, formless God that is actually visible to the human eye. This body of God can take the forms of light, clouds, angles, or be felt in just its presence, known as the Shekhinah (the Holy Spirit.) The Essenes believed that complete devotion to the sacred texts, abstinence from sex and certain foods, and communal prayer might bring the believer to the ultimate experience of the Kavod (which literally means â€Å"glory.†) The Kavod must be â€Å"experienced† or perceived, as it was believed at the time that no one could look directly at the face of God and live. This is illustrated in Moses’ encounter with God: â€Å"So the Lord said to Moses, â€Å"While my Glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back. But my face shall not be seen.† The concept of Kavod had a profound impact on the formation of the Christologies of the early Christian Church. John was the most prolific of writers in his belief that Jesus was the revealed Kavod descended here on earth. John wrote in Chapter One, 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. and again in Chapter 11, directly quoting Christ immediately following the resurrection of Lazarus, 38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 â€Å"Take away the stone,† he said.â€Å" But, Lord,† said Martha, the sister of the dead man, â€Å"by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.† 40 Then Jesus said, â€Å"Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?† In total, John refers to the glory or Kavad of God revealed through Christ seven times in the Book of John. Paul also mentions Christ as the glorified image of God in II Corinthians: 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. And even in a more powerful way in Colossians: 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Clearly, the concept of Kavod was a theologically fundamental principal of the esoteric Essenes that became a foundational key factor in the overall Christian understanding of the nature and identity of Christ. Thereby, the speculation about the identity and nature of God and the search for absolute cosmogony and cosmology of God was carried from the mystics to the early Christians. 3b. The Experiential The quest for a direct encounter with a deity is the experiential dimension of both the mystic Jews and the early Christians. The Jewish mystics sought not only knowledge of God, but also an esoteric experience with him. This is clear in the apocalyptic literature of both religions. Second Temple eschatology relates that the mystical, the belief in the immediate and direct experience of God, is an important part of the last days. This religious experience, an encounter with God that is an act of revelation itself, results in the devotee’s immediate personal transformation and the uncovering of God’s mysteries. According to War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness, (one of the scrolls found of the Dead Sea Scrolls, or Qumran Scrolls), the Essenes were awaiting the cataclysmic struggle between the Sons of Light (themselves) and the Sons of Darkness (everybody else). This battle was to occur not only between the earthly beings, but also joining them would be the cosmic forces of good and evil, and would signal the end of days. Paul wrote in detail of the faithful who experienced Christ’s spirit. He felt these Christians could start their transformation into the image of God while still on earth but that the complete transformation would only occur after death. Paul states in Romans: 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. This is but one example of many (thousands) of references to the Holy Spirit altering or affecting of the Early Christians. For these mystical Jews and Christians, experiencing a vision of the Kavod, (the Image of the Glory of God), stamped Gods image on the soul. Words used to describe these experiences included glorified, exalted, or angelic. The apocalyptic literatures describe believers clothed in shining white garments, as angels worshiping God before his throne, transformed into beings of fire or light, and enthroned with Gods name or image. This is but one example of many shared concepts between the apocalyptic literatures of the mystics of Judaism (such as The Apocalypse of Abraham and The Testament of Levi) and the book of Revelation in the Christian Canon. Comparisons could also be made between cosmic revelations such as descriptions of heaven, hell and events at the end of time, as well as several symbolic symbols such as hands, bowls, scrolls, angels, or dragons. Once again, we see an important concept of the mystics carried into the essential framework of early Christianity. It is important to note, that in the cases of both religions, this shift of thought to experiencing God in the present may have been due to failed eschatological expectations. Hopes for the long awaited battle between the forces of light and the forces of dark for the mystics, and the imminent return of Christ for the Christians had not gone as previously thought. Moving these hope for the future to actual experiences of the present made the reward of Kavod available to all believers, and a possible reality. 3c. The Practical The most obvious shared dimension between the Jewish mystics and the Early Christians was that of their shared practical application of their experiences in order to effect change. This was illustrated in their communal practices, which served as an avenue for mystical transformation. Examples of these practices include asceticism (denying oneself of worldly pleasures), initiation rites (such as Circumcision for the Jews and Baptism for the Christians), washing (such as foot washing for Christians and purification rituals for the Jews), the anointing of the body and hair with sacramental oil, spirit possession, sexual asceticism, and sacramental ritual behavior, (such as the Passover meal and the Eucharist.) The transformation of the mystical ideals into the sacramental rituals of the early Christian Church and the â€Å"Gnostic† schools is fascinating. The sacraments seem to normalize the mystical, making the presence of God regularly available to believers. Baptism, anointing, and the Eucharist all involve the integration of the Holy Spirit and the Christ into the soul. These rituals were understood as the vehicle that elevates and transports the person into the sacred realm so that he or she can come into the very presence of God. This is the ultimate combination of the speculative theology experienced through the practical; and once again illustrates how the mystics of Judaism influenced the early Christians. While it is clear to me that many practices and beliefs Christians are directly taken from the practices and beliefs of the Jewish mystics, it remains unclear to me if Christianity was a continuum of the Jewish mystic sect of the Essenes, (with the addition of the long-awaited Messiah), or a completely new religion that merely borrowed a few key dimensions from the Essenes. What, if anything did the other non-mystic Jewish sects contribute? How many of the Essenes converted to Christianity in comparison to the other Jewish sects? Was Jesus himself an Essene? All of these remain topics for further research. However, there is arguably no question that the Jewish faith and specifically the mystics of Judaism influenced the theology, framework and Christology of the Christian Church. References ODonnell, James. Augustine’s Confessions: An Electronic Edition. The STOA Consortium. The STOA Consortium, 1992. Web. 03 Mar 2012. http://www.stoa.org/hippo/. Barclay, Joseph. The Talmud. Sacred Texts. London1878. Web. 6 Mar 2012. http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/bar/bar000.htm. Rapaport, Samuel. Tales and Maxims from the Midrash. Sacred Texts. George Routledge Sons Limited, 1907. Web. 10 Mar 2012. http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/tmm/tmm00.htm. Kimball, Christopher V. The Tanach. Sacred Texts. Westminster Hebrew Institute, 20 OCT 2006. Web. 06 Mar 2012. http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/tan/index.htm Whiston, William. The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged. 5th. 1. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1985. Print. Brown, Robert K., and Phillip W. Comfort. The New Greek-English Interlinear New Testament. UBS 4th Edition;Nestle-Aland 26th Edition. Munster/Westphalia: Tyndale, 1990. Print. McGinn, Bernard. The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism: Origen: Commentary on the Song of Songs. New York, New York: Random House, 20006. Print. McGinn, Bernard. The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism: Gregory of Nyssa: the Life of Moses. New York, New York: Random House, 2006. Print. Abelson, Joshua. Jewish Mysticism. First Published in 1913: Forgotten Books, 2008. Print. Underhill, Evelyn. Mysticism. 12th.Lexington, KY: 2011. Print. Dennis, Rabbi Geoffrey. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism. 1st ed. Woodbury. MN: llewellyn Publications, 2011. Print. Whiston, William. The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged. 5th. 1. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1985. Print. â€Å"Antiquities of the Jews.† pp. 274, Book Xiii, Chapter V, Section 9. Coleson, F.H.. The Contemplative Life. Early Jewish Writings. pp. 53, 206. 2011. Web. 15 Mar 2012. http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/text/philo/book34.html. E. Wolfson, Yeridah la-Merkavah: Typology of Ecstasy and Enthronement in Ancient Jewish Mysticism, in R. Herrera (ed.), Mystics of the Book: Themes, Topics, and Typologies (New York: Lang, 1993) pp. 13-44 [ 1 ]. ODonnell, James. Augustine’s Confessions: An Electronic Edition. The STOA Consortium. The STOA Consortium, 1992. Web. 03 Mar 2012. . [ 2 ]. Barclay, Joseph. The Talmud. Sacred Texts. London1878. Web. 6 Mar 2012. . [ 3 ]. Rapaport, Samuel. Tales and Maxims from the Midrash. Sacred Texts. George Routledge Sons Limited, 1907. Web. 10 Mar 2012. . [ 4 ]. Kimball, Christopher V. The Tanach. Sacred Texts. Westminster Hebrew Institute, 20 OCT 2006. Web. 06 Mar 2012.

The Character of Elizabeth Gruber in The River Warren :: River Warren Essays

The Character of Elizabeth Gruber in The River Warren    After reading The River Warren by Kent Myers, I felt a kinship with Elizabeth Gruber. Her loss had been an enormous one. Her return to reality and the world around her took great inner strength. The numbness and the void she was experiencing is very real and can be all consuming if not put in check, not just for women but all humans. We as humans are all different and the grief process is different for all of us. Elizabeth, upon being aroused from her pit of grief, realizes that her strength and connection with her husband, Leo, is the only thing that is going to bring him back form his deep, dark, prison of regret, grief, and guilt. I felt her pain in both the loss of her child and the painful silence that her marriage had become. As Elizabeth drives to the field and assaults the tractor with a rock, I remember times when I would have loved to do the same thing. Only I was not brave enough to attack the iron mistress that takes away the farmer's spare time.    Many farmers I know respond to grief, stress and anxiety the same way Leo Gruber does. They bury themselves in their work. There they can think, and they have control. Many times, with all of us, the intense feelings of guilt and sorrow make us feel as if we have lost control of our world. So we retreat to a place where we can have control. For Leo it was his work, and his tractor. Liz Beth brought him back to the real world. Cowboys, farmers and men of the west learned to shut themselves off, and they weren't allowed to feel or show emotion. To these men showing real feeling and emotion was a sign of weakness, and the weak don't survive in the west, at least that is the way they were trained to think for many generations.    My father is a fourth generation South Dakotan. For many years as I was growing up I wandered if he had ice in his veins, just as Jeff had wondered about his father.

Biography of William Shakespeare Essay

In the mid-sixteenth century, William Shakespeare’s father, John Shakespeare, moved to the idyllic town of Stratford-upon-Avon. There, he became a successful landowner, moneylender, glove-maker, and dealer of wool and agricultural goods. In 1557, he married Mary Arden. John Shakespeare lived during a time when the middle class was expanding in both size and wealth, allowing its members more freedoms and luxuries as well as a louder voice in local government. He took advantage of the change in times and in 1557 became a member of the Stratford Council. This event marked the beginning of his illustrious political career. By 1561, he was elected one of the town’s fourteen burgesses and subsequently served successively as constable, one of two chamberlains, and alderman. In these positions, he administered borough property and revenues. In 1567, he became bailiff—the highest elected office in Stratford and the equivalent of a modern-day mayor. Town records indicate that William Shakespeare was John and Mary’s third child. His birth is unregistered, but legend pins it on April 23, 1564, possibly because it is known that April 23 is the day on which he died 52 years later. In any event, his baptism was registered with the town on April 26, 1564. Little is known about his childhood, although it is generally assumed that he attended the local grammar school, the King’s New School. The school was staffed by Oxford-educated faculty who taught the students mathematics, natural sciences, logic, Christian ethics, and classical language and literature. Shakespeare did not attend university, which was not at all unusual for the time. University education was reserved for wealthy sons of the elite, mostly those who wanted to become clergymen. The numerous classical and literary references in Shakespeare’s plays are a testament, however, to the excellent education he received in grammar school (and to his ability as an autodidact). His early plays in particular draw on the works of Seneca and Plautus. Even more impressive than his formal education is the wealth of general knowledge exhibited in his works. His vocabulary exceeds that of any other English writer by a wide margin. In 1582, at the age of eighteen, William Shakespeare married the twenty-six-year-old Anne Hathaway. Their first daughter, Susanna, was baptized only six months later—a fact that has given rise to speculation concerning the circumstances surrounding their marriage. In 1585, Anne bore twins, baptized Hamnet and Judith Shakespeare. Hamnet died at the age of eleven, by which time Shakespeare was already a successful playwright. Around 1589, Shakespeare wrote his supposed first play, Henry VI, Part 1. Sometime between his marriage and writing this play, he moved to London, where he pursued a career as a playwright and actor. Although many records of Shakespeare’s life as a citizen of Stratford—including marriage and birth certificates—have survived, very little information exists about his life as a young playwright. Legend characterizes Shakespeare as a roguish young man who was once forced to flee London under suspect circumstances perhaps having to do with his love life. But the little written information we have of his early years does not necessarily confirm this characterization. In any case, young Will was not an immediate and universal success. The earliest written record of Shakespeare’s life in London comes from a statement by the rival playwright Robert Greene. In his Groatsworth of Witte (1592), Greene calls Shakespeare an â€Å"upstart crow†¦ [who] supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you. † While this is hardly high praise, it does suggest that Shakespeare rattled the London theatrical hierarchy even at the beginning of his career. It is natural, in retrospect, to attribute Greene’s complaint to jealousy of Shakespeare’s ability, but of course we can’t be sure. With Richard III, Henry VI, The Comedy of Errors, and Titus Andronicus under his belt, Shakespeare was a popular playwright by 1590. * The year 1593, however, marked a major leap forward in his career. By the end of that year, he secured a prominent patron in the Earl of Southampton and his Venus and Adonis was published. It remains one of the first of his known works to be printed and was a huge success. Next came The Rape of Lucrece. Shakespeare had also made his mark as a poet and most scholars agree that the majority of Shakespeare’s sonnets were probably written in the 1590s. In 1594, Shakespeare returned to the theater and became a charter member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men—a group of actors who changed their name to the King’s Men when James I ascended to the throne. By 1598, he was the â€Å"principal comedian† for the troupe; by 1603, he was â€Å"principal tragedian. † He remained associated with the organization until his death. Although acting and playwriting were not considered noble professions at the time, successful and prosperous actors were relatively well respected. Shakespeare’s success left him with a fair amount of money, which he nvested in Stratford real estate. In 1597, he purchased the second largest house in Stratford—the New Place—for his parents. In 1596, Shakespeare applied for a coat of arms for his family, in effect making himself a gentleman. Consequently, his daughters made â€Å"good matches,† marrying wealthy men. The same year that he joined the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, along with Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Taming of the Shrew, and several other plays. Two of his greatest tragedies, Hamlet and Julius Caesar, followed around 1600. Hamlet is widely considered the first modern play for its multi-faceted main character and unprecedented depiction of his psyche. The first decade of the seventeenth century witnessed the debut performances of many of Shakespeare’s most celebrated works, including many of his so-called history plays: Othello in 1604 or 1605, Antony and Cleopatra in 1606 or 1607, and King Lear in 1608. The last play of his to be performed was probably King Henry VIII in either 1612 or 1613. William Shakespeare lived until 1616. His wife Anna died in 1623 at the age of 67. He was buried in the chancel of his church at Stratford. The lines above his tomb—allegedly written by Shakespeare himself—read: Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones And cursed be he that moves my bones. *The dates of composition and performance of almost all of Shakespeare’s plays remain uncertain. The dates used in this note are widely agreed upon by scholars, but there is still significant debate around when and where he wrote most of his plays.

Definition and Examples of Irregular Verbs

In English grammar, an irregular verb (pronounced i-REG-u-lur verb) is a  verb that does not follow the usual rules for verb forms. Also known as a strong verb. Verbs in English are irregular if they dont have the  conventional -ed ending (such as asked or ended) in the past tense and/or past participle forms. Contrast with regular verb. According to the 2002 edition of the book,  Longman Student Grammar, the nine most common  lexical verbs  in English are all irregular:  say, get, go, know, think, see, make, come, and  take. Exercises Exercise in Using the Correct Forms of Irregular VerbsPractice in Using the Past Forms of Regular and Irregular VerbsProofreading for Tense Errors Examples and Observations Sheila Watson The bridge they built brought traffic in both directions. Water slopping from the buckets froze on the feet as it fell. Bo Links He said Roadmap Jenkins got the good loops because he knew the yardage and read the break better than anyone else. George H. Devol Hearts were trumps. I stood, and made three to his nothing. I dealt; he begged; I gave him one, and made three more. Muriel Spark It was true, thought Miss Taylor, that the young nurses were less jolly since Sister Burstead had taken over the ward. 180 Cussed Exceptions According to Steven Pinker, Candian-born American experimental psychologist, At first glance irregular verbs would seem to have no reason to live. Why should language have forms that are just cussed exceptions to a rule?.... Irregular forms are just words. If our language faculty has a knack for memorizing words, it should have no inhibitions about memorizing past-tense forms at the same time. These are the verbs we call irregular, and they are a mere 180 additions to a mental lexicon that already numbers in the tens or hundreds of thousands. The Origin of Irregular Verbs According to Bernard ODwyer, grammar textbook writer, [I]rregular verbs...derive from the Old English period. At that time they were called strong and weak verbs respectively. Strong verbs formed their past tense and past participle with an ablaut or vowel gradation (a means of marking different functions of a word by varying the vowel sound in its base). Weak verbs formed their past tense and past participle with an inflectional suffix, that is, a {-d} or {-t} suffix. With the loss of inflections during the Middle English period, all new verbs took on the weak verb formation with an {-ed} or {-t} in past forms. This weak formation soon became the norm for what we now refer to as English regular verbs; strong verbs became irregular verbs. Pam Peters, emeritus professor at Macquarie University in Australia says, In modern English there are roughly half that number, in classes which overlap and have deviant internal groups, and in addition, a number of weak verbs have joined the class of irregular verbs. The Comprehensive Grammar of English, (1985) presents seven classes of irregular verbs, five of them with subgroups. The total membership of the modern irregular verb system is a question of criteria, depending on whether you include: i) verbs which are conjugated both regularly and irregularly ii) verbs which are prefixed or compounded forms of monomorphemic irregular verbs iii) verbs which fall into the category of old-fashioned or archaic English To provide maximum help—and to avoid prejudging such issues—the Comprehensive Grammar (QGLS) presents a list of 267 irregular verbs, but it shrinks to about 150 if you apply all three criteria just mentioned. The Future of Irregular Verbs Steven Pinker weighs in on irregular verbs: Do irregular verbs have a future? At first glance, the prospects do not seem good. Old English had more than twice as many irregular verbs as we do today. As some of the verbs became less common, like cleave-clove, abide-abode, and geld-gelt, children failed to memorize their irregular forms and applied the -ed rule instead (just as today children are apt to say winded and speaked). The irregular forms were doomed for these childrens children and for all subsequent generations (though some of the dead irregulars have left souvenirs among the English adjectives, like cloven, cleft, shod, gilt, and pent). Not only is the irregular class losing members by emigration, it is not gaining new ones by immigration. When new verbs enter English via onomatopoeia (to ding, to ping), borrowings from other languages (deride and succumb from Latin), and conversions from nouns (fly out), the regular rule has first dibs on them. The language ends up with dinged, pinged, derided, succumbed, and flied out, not dang, pang, derode, succame, or flew out. But many of the irregulars can sleep securely, for they have two things on their side. One is their sheer frequency in the language. The ten commonest verbs in English (be, have, do, say, make, go, take, come, see, and get) are all irregular, and about 70% of the time we use a verb, it is an irregular verb. And children have a wondrous capacity for memorizing words; they pick up a new one every two hours, accumulating 60,000 by high school. Eighty irregulars are common enough that children use them before they learn to read, and I predict they will stay in the language indefinitely. A New Strong Verb in English Author Kate Burridge says, The magazine Ozwords published by the Australian National Dictionary Centre has confirmed something that Ive suspected for some time—snuck as the past tense of sneak is now more usual than sneaked.... It is always good news to hear of a successful new strong verb in English! Fewer than 60 of the original 350 strong verbs remain—and even this very small number includes many rather dodgy ones like glide/glode, beseech/besaught, cleave/cleft/cloven, beget/begat/begotten, chide/chid/chidden, slay/slew/slain and smite/smote/smitten. Hardly part of a Modern English speakers active vocabulary! So you can see that a new strong verb like sneak/snuck is a cause for celebration—that is, if you are worried about the extinction of forms like glide/glode. The Lighter Side of Irregular Verbs From the Verbs Is Funny poem: A boy who swims may say he swum, But milk is skimmed and seldom skum, And nails you trim; they are not trum.   When words you speak, these words are spoken, But a nose is tweaked and cant be twoken. And what you seek is seldom soken. If we forget, then weve forgotten, But things we wet are never wotten, And houses let cannot be lotten. The things one sells are always sold, But fog dispelled are not dispold, And what you smell is never smold. When young, a top you oft saw spun, But did you see a grin ever grun, Or a potato neatly skun? Sources Anonymous. Verbs Is Funny. Biber, Douglas. Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English. 1st ed, TBS, 2002. Burridge,  Kate. Gift of the Gob: Morsels of English Language History. ABC Books Australia, 2011. Devol, George H.,  Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi. 1st ed, 1887. Links, Bo.  Riverbank Tweed and Roadmap Jenkins: Tales From the Caddie Yard. Simon Schuster, 2001. ODwyer, Bernard T. Modern English Structures: Form, Function, and Position. 2nd ed, Broadview Press, 2006. Spark,  Muriel. Memento Mori. Macmillian, 1959. Peters, Pam. American and British Influence in Australian Verb Morphology.  Creating and Using English Language Corpora: Papers From the Fourteenth International Conference on English Language and Research on Computerized Corpora, Zurich 1993. edited by Udo Fries, Gunnel Tottie, and Peter Schneider. Rodopi, 1994. Pinker, Steven. Quoted by Lewis Burke Frumkes in  Favorite Words of Famous People: A Celebration of Superior Words From Writers, Educators, Scientists, and Humorists. Marion Street Press, 2011. Pinker,  Steven. Words and Rules. Basic Books,1999. Quirk, Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, et al. Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman, 1989. Watson,  Sheila. Deep Hollow Creek. McClelland Stewart, 1992.