{"id":5445,"date":"2015-04-06T18:06:11","date_gmt":"2015-04-06T18:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/?p=5445"},"modified":"2015-04-06T18:06:11","modified_gmt":"2015-04-06T18:06:11","slug":"archives-in-action-reading-shakespeare-today-on-display-at-the-homer-babbidge-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/2015\/04\/06\/archives-in-action-reading-shakespeare-today-on-display-at-the-homer-babbidge-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Archives in Action: Reading Shakespeare Today – on Display at the Homer Babbidge Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"shakespeare01\"<\/a>In A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em>, a flower struck by Cupid\u2019s bow is instantly imbued with magical powers.\u00a0 A touch of the nectar from the flower, a wild pansy, to the eye of the sleeping fairy queen Titania causes her infatuation with Bottom and the ensuing chaos that follows in the play. \u00a0Plants, flowers and herbs figure prominently\u00a0in several of Shakespeare\u2019s plays, most notably A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em> and A Winter\u2019s Tale<\/em>. \u00a0 During\u00a0Shakespeare’s time, the wild pansy was known\u00a0by many names including \u201cHeartsease,\u201d \u201cLove-lies-bleeding,\u201d and \u201cJack-jump-up-and-kiss-me\u201d. \u00a0Botanicals\u00a0in medieval Europe have long cultural histories and symbolic meanings derived from their use as curatives and medicine through time.\u00a0 When characters such as Oberon and Puck from A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em>\u00a0mention flowers and herbs, it can be assumed that Shakespeare drew from these deep histories and intended for the audience to understand the associations that each flower represented.<\/p>\n

A rare text on the medicinal properties of plants and other botanicals from the collections of Archives and Special Collections is currently on display in the exhibition The Plays the Thing: Shakespeare at UConn<\/strong> in the Homer Babbidge Library plaza level gallery. \u00a0Flore Medicale<\/em> [Medicinal Plants] is a catalog of plants and hand painted illustrations produced by Francois-Pierre Chaumeton, a French botanist, physician, surgeon, and eventual \"shakespeare02\"<\/a>pharmacist.\u00a0 He lived from 1775 to 1819 and practiced for most of his professional life at the Val-de-Grace military hospital in Paris. Chaumeton translated medicinal texts from Latin, Italian, French and other languages and compiled the 8 volume Flore Medicale.<\/em>\u00a0The set was first published in 1814 and contains over 360 hand-painted illustrations of plants in total.<\/p>\n

The exhibition features commentary from several UConn faculty members on different facets of Shakespearean scholarship.\u00a0 Associate Professor F. Elizabeth Hart discussed Shakespeare\u2019s allusions to Queen Elizabeth I in plays such as Comedy of Errors<\/em>, A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em>, and The Winter\u2019s Tale<\/em>; Professor Pamela Allen Brown provides examples of \u201cThe Advent of the Actress and Shakespeare\u2019s All-Male Stage\u201d; and Professor Gregory Semenza provided samples of Shakespearean influence in modern culture in the form of comic strips, graphic novels, and video games.<\/p>\n

\"shakespeare03\"<\/a>Though the 400th<\/sup> anniversary of Shakespeare\u2019s death will be recognized in 2016, it is unlikely that students and scholars will ever come to a complete understanding of William Shakespeare and the influence that his work has had on the English language. \u00a0In The Play\u2019s the Thing: Shakespeare at UConn<\/strong>, Connecticut Repertory Theatre\u2019s (CRT) Managing Director Matthew Pugliese and Assistant Professor in the Department of Dramatic Arts Lindsay Cummings show the creative work of the students and artists of the Department of Dramatic Arts and Connecticut Repertory Theatre. \u00a0The exhibition is on display until June 15, 2015.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

– Lauren Silverio<\/p>\n

Lauren Silverio is an English and Psychology major and student employee in Archives and Special Collections.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream, a flower struck by Cupid\u2019s bow is instantly imbued with magical powers.\u00a0 A touch of the nectar from the flower, a wild pansy, to the eye of the sleeping fairy queen Titania causes her infatuation … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[253,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5445"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5445"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5451,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5445\/revisions\/5451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.lib.uconn.edu\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}