We are a celebratory lot here at the Free For All, and one of the biggest parties taking place in the literary world this year is the celebration of Shakespeare’s 400th birthday this coming Saturday.

There are any number of celebrations going on this time of year, from the Royal Shakespeare Company’s live performance of some of the Bard’s greatest hits on Saturday to Chicago’s month-long Shakespeare festival, to the Shakespeariad, a joint venture between the British Council and the Russian school children to get Shakespeare into as many classrooms as possible.  Or, you can come to the Library, and check out our very own marvelous collection of Shakespeare biographies, works, and analysis, some of which are on the Free For All Book Display right now!

It’s easy, sometimes, to think of Shakespeare as antiquated, to remember how difficult it was read Macbeth in high school, or to think of his performances in black and white.  And all that makes it difficult to realize that Shakespeare’s work in an integral part of the new stories we are telling today.  Not only are his characters and plots (star-crossed lovers, duplicitous friends, greedy underlings) all ones to which we can still readily relate, but his use of words revolutionized the English language.  If you’ve ever told someone that a thing is a “foregone conclusion”, or that they are sending you “on a wild goose chase”, or that you are “lonely” or “uncomfortable”….heck, if you’ve ever told a knock-knock joke, you are invoking Shakespeare in the most modern way possible.

The Independent recently published a list of words and phrases to which we owe Shakespeare our thanks.  Have a look, and then come in and check out some of his plays–on paper or on dvd–and see for yourself just how powerful these works still are!

– “Fancy-free” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

– “Lie low” – Much Ado About Nothing

– “Send packing” – Henry IV

– “Foregone conclusion” – Othello

– “A sorry sight” – Macbeth

– “For goodness sake” – Henry VIII

– “Good riddance” – The Merchant of Venice

– “Neither here not there” – Othello

– “Mum’s the word” – Henry VI, Part II

– “What’s done is done” – Macbeth

– “Break the ice” – The Taming of the Shrew

– “Scuffle” – Antony and Cleopatra

– “Catch a cold” – Cymbeline

– “Uncomfortable” – Romeo and Juliet

– “Manager” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

– “Devil incarnate” – Titus Andronicus

– “Dishearten” – Henry V

– “Eventful” – As You Like It

– “New-fangled” – Love’s Labour’s Lost

– “Hot-blooded” – King Lear

– “Eaten out of house and home” – Henry IV, Part II

– “Rant” – Hamlet

– “Knock knock! Who’s there?” – Macbeth

– “With bated breath” – The Merchant of Venice

– “Laughable” – The Merchant of Venice

– “Negotiate” – Much Ado About Nothing

– “Jaded” – King Henry VI

– “A wild goose chase” – Romeo and Juliet

– “Assassination” – Macbeth

– “Too much of a good thing” – As You Like It

– “A heart of gold” – Henry V

– “Such stuff as dreams are made on” – The Tempest

– “Fashionable” – Troilus and Cressida

– “Puking” – As You Like It

– “Dead as a doornail” – Henry VI, Part II

– “Not slept one wink” – Cymbeline

– “The world’s mine oyster” – The Merry Wives of Windsor

– “Obscene” – Love’s Labour’s Lost

– “Bedazzled” – The Taming of the Shrew

– “In stitches” – Twelfth Night

– “Addiction” – Othello

– “Faint-hearted” – Henry VI, Part I

– “One fell swoop” – Macbeth

– “Vanish into thin air” – Othello

– “Swagger” – Henry V

– “Own flesh and blood” – Hamlet

– “Zany” – Love’s Labour’s Lost

– “Give the devil his due” – Henry IV, Part I

– “There’s method in my madness” – Hamlet

– “Grovel” – Henry IV

– “Lonely” – Coriolanus

– “Unreal” – Macbeth

– “Salad days” – Antony and Cleopatra

– “Spotless reputation” – Richard II

– “Full circle” – King Lear

– “Epileptic” – King Lear

– “Arch-villain” – Timon of Athens

– “Bloodstained” – Titus Andronicus

– “All of a sudden” – The Taming of the Shrew

– “Come what, come may” – Macbeth