D-DAY, THE FOSTERS & A2 CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH EXAM

Today, The Fosters & The Grandma are in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat. After some days enjoying Malta, the D-Day has arrived and The Fosters have an interesting adventure to live: an A2 Cambridge English Exam.

 

Good luck family! You are the best!

 

You have already won this game.

 

Fosters forever!

 

Cambridge Assessment English or Cambridge English develops and produces Cambridge English Qualifications and the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

The organisation contributed to the development of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), the standard used around the world to benchmark language skills, and its qualifications and tests are aligned with CEFR levels.

Cambridge Assessment English is part of Cambridge Assessment, a non-teaching department of the University of Cambridge which merged with Cambridge University Press to form Cambridge University Press & Assessment in August 2021.

Each Cambridge English Qualifications focuses on a level of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

English qualifications designed for adult learners. A2 Key, B1 Preliminary and B2 First have the same exam format as the schools versions of these qualifications, but use different topics and content suited to adult learners.

In the 1980s Cambridge Assessment English, the British Council and IDP Education formed the international IELTS partnership which delivers the IELTS tests.

More information: Cambridge English

In 2010 Cambridge Assessment English and the English Language Institute Testing and Certificate Division of the University of Michigan agreed to form a not-for-profit collaboration known as CaMLA (Cambridge Michigan Language Assessments). Cambridge Assessment English owns 65% of the venture.

Since 2011 Cambridge Exams Publishing, a partnership between Cambridge Assessment English and the English Language Teaching (ELT) business of Cambridge University Press, develops official Cambridge preparation materials for Cambridge English and IELTS exams.

In 2013 Cambridge Assessment English formed a joint venture with the Box Hill Institute to deliver the Occupational English Test, known as OET.

In 2019 Cambridge Assessment English acquired English Language iTutoring (ELiT), an artificial intelligence developed off technology from the University of Cambridge, to support new English language assessment products.

Cambridge Assessment English was involved in the early development of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and all Cambridge English qualifications and tests are aligned with the levels described by the CEFR.

Each Cambridge English Qualification targets specific CEFR levels but the exam also contains test material at the adjacent levels. For example B2 First is aimed at B2, but there are also test items that cover B1 and C1. This allows for inferences to be drawn about candidates’ abilities if they are a level below or above the one targeted. Candidates are encouraged to take the exam most suitable to their needs and level of ability.

More information: Cambridge English

In 1913 the exam could be taken in Cambridge or London, for a fee of £3 (approximately £293 in 2012 prices). The exam lasted 12 hours and included:

-Translation from English into French or German: 2 hours.

-Translation from French or German into English, and English Grammar: 2.5 hours.

-English Essay: 2 hours.

-English Literature: 3 hours.

-English Phonetics: 1.5 hours.

-Oral test: dictation (30 minutes); reading aloud and conversation (30 minutes).

The main influence behind the design of the exam was the grammar-translation teaching approach, which aims to establish reading knowledge, rather than ability to communicate in the language.

In 1913, the first requirement for CPE candidates was to translate texts. Translation remained prominent in foreign language teaching up until the 1960s. It was a core part of CPE until 1975 and an optional part until 1989.

However, CPE was also influenced by Henry Sweet and his book published in 1900: A Practical Study of Languages: A Guide for Teachers and Learners, which argued that the most natural method of teaching languages was through conversation. Due to this influence, speaking was part of Cambridge English exams from the very beginning.

-1209. University of Cambridge founded.

-1534. Cambridge University Press founded.

-1858. University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) founded.

-1913. Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) introduced. Now known as C2 Proficiency.

-1939. Lower Certificate in English (LCE) introduced. Renamed First Certificate in English (FCE) in 1975 and now known as B2 First.

-1941. Joint agreement with the British Council-British Council centres established.

-1943-1947. Preliminary English Test (PET) introduced. It was reintroduced in 1980 and is now known as B1 Preliminary.

-1971. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) initiated.

-1988. The Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Examination Board becomes part of UCLES.

-1989. Specialist EFL research and evaluation unit established.

-1989. IELTS launched. A simplified and shortened version of ELTS launched in 1980.

-1990. Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) founded.

-1991. Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) introduced. Now known as C1 Advanced.

-1993. Business English Certificates (BEC) launched.

-1994. Key English Test (KET) introduced. Now known as A2 Key.

-1995. University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations (UODLE) becomes part of UCLES

-1997. Young Learner English Tests (YLE) introduced. Now known as Pre-A1 Starter, A1 Movers, and A2 Flyers.

-1997. BULATS launched.

-2001. CEFR published.

-2002. UCLES EFL renamed University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations (Cambridge ESOL).

-2002. One million Cambridge ESOL exam candidates.

-2010. CaMLA established (Cambridge Michigan Language Assessments).

-2011. Cambridge Exams Publishing joint venture with Cambridge University Press established.

-2013. Cambridge ESOL renamed Cambridge English Language Assessment.

-2015. Cambridge English Scale introduced.

-2016. Linguaskill reading and listening introduced.

-2016. Linguaskill writing introduced.

-2017. Cambridge English Language Assessment renamed Cambridge Assessment English.

-2020. The University of Cambridge announces it plans to merge two of its non-teaching departments, Cambridge Assessment and Cambridge University Press.

-2021. Cambridge Assessment and Cambridge University Press merge to become Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

More information: Cambridge English

Cambridge is heaven, I am convinced
it is the nicest place in the world to live.
As you walk round, most people look incredibly bright,
as if they are probably off to win a Nobel prize.

Sophie Hannah

MALTA & THE ORDER OF THE KNIGHTS OF SAINT JOHN (I)

Today, The Grandma wants to talk about one of the oldest European orders: The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem whose history in Malta has left lots of footprints in these islands. It's an amazing part of our history that The Grandma wants to share with her family in a two-parts story.

The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, also known as the Order of Saint John, Order of Hospitallers, Knights Hospitaller, Knights Hospitalier or Hospitallers, was a medieval Catholic military order that became the modern Sovereign Military Order of Malta, which remains a sovereign subject of international law, as well as the Protestant members of the Alliance of the Orders of Saint John of Jerusalem. It was headquartered variously in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, on the island of Rhodes, and in Malta, and it is now headquartered in Rome.

The Hospitallers arose in the early 11th century, at the time of the great monastic reformation, as a group of individuals associated with an Amalfitan hospital in the Muristan district of Jerusalem, dedicated to John the Baptist and founded around 1023 by Gerard Thom to provide care for sick, poor or injured pilgrims coming to the Holy Land. 

Some scholars, however, consider that the Amalfitan order and hospital were different from Gerard Thom's order and its hospital. 

After the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 during the First Crusade, the organisation became a religious and military order under its own Papal charter, charged with the care and defence of the Holy Land.

 

More information: Order of Malta

Following the conquest of the Holy Land by Islamic forces, the knights operated from Rhodes, over which they were sovereign, and later from Malta, where they administered a vassal state under the Spanish viceroy of Sicily. The Hospitallers were the smallest group to colonise parts of the Americas; at one point in the mid-17th century, they acquired four Caribbean islands, which they turned over to the French in the 1660s.

The knights were weakened in the Protestant Reformation, when rich commanderies of the order in northern Germany and the Netherlands became Protestant and largely separated from the Roman Catholic main stem, remaining separate to this day, although ecumenical relations between the descendant chivalric orders are amicable. 

The order was disestablished in England, Denmark, Sweden and elsewhere in northern Europe, and it was further damaged by Napoleon's capture of Malta in 1798, following which it became dispersed throughout Europe and Russia. 

It regained strength during the early 19th century as it redirected itself toward religious and humanitarian causes. In 1834, the order, by this time known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, acquired new headquarters in Rome, where it has since been based.

More information: Sovereign Order of Saint John of Malta

In 603, Pope Gregory I commissioned the Ravennate Abbot Probus, who was previously Gregory's emissary at the Lombard court, to build a hospital in Jerusalem to treat and care for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. 

In 800, Emperor Charlemagne enlarged Probus' hospital and added a library to it. About 200 years later, in 1005, Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah destroyed the hospital and three thousand other buildings in Jerusalem. 

In 1023, merchants from Amalfi and Salerno in Italy were given permission by the Caliph Ali az-Zahir of Egypt to rebuild the hospital in Jerusalem. The hospital, which was built on the site of the monastery of Saint John the Baptist, took in Christian pilgrims traveling to visit the Christian holy sites. It was served by the Order of Saint Benedict.

The monastic hospitaller order was founded following the First Crusade by Gerard Thom, whose role as founder was confirmed by the papal bull Pie Postulatio Voluntatis issued by Pope Paschal II in 1113. 

After centuries from place to place in Europe, the knights gained fixed quarters in 1530 when Charles I of Spain, as King of Sicily, gave them Malta, Gozo and the North African port of Tripoli in perpetual fiefdom in exchange for an annual fee of a single Maltese falcon, the Tribute of the Maltese Falcon, which they were to send on All Souls' Day to the King's representative, the Viceroy of Sicily.

The Hospitallers continued their actions against the Muslims and especially the Barbary pirates. Although they had only a few ships they quickly drew the ire of the Ottomans, who were unhappy to see the order resettled. In 1565 Suleiman sent an invasion force of about 40,000 men to besiege the 700 knights and 8,000 soldiers and expel them from Malta and gain a new base from which to possibly launch another assault on Europe. This is known as the Great Siege of Malta.

 

 

Take this sword:

In Brightness Stands for Faith

Its point for hope,

Its guard for Charity,

Use it well...

Hospitaller Rite of Profession

At first the battle went as badly for the Hospitallers as Rhodes had: most of the cities were destroyed and about half the knights killed. On 18 August the position of the besieged was becoming desperate: dwindling daily in numbers, they were becoming too feeble to hold the long line of fortifications. But when his council suggested the abandonment of Birgu and Senglea and withdrawal to Fort St. Angelo, Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette refused.

The Viceroy of Sicily had not sent help; possibly the Viceroy's orders from Philip II of Spain were so obscurely worded as to put on his own shoulders the burden of the decision whether to help the Order at the expense of his own defences. 

A wrong decision could mean defeat and exposing Sicily and Naples to the Ottomans. He had left his own son with La Valette, so he could hardly be indifferent to the fate of the fortress. 

Whatever may have been the cause of his delay, the Viceroy hesitated until the battle had almost been decided by the unaided efforts of the knights, before being forced to move by the indignation of his own officers.

On 23 August came yet another grand assault, the last serious effort, as it proved, of the besiegers. It was thrown back with the greatest difficulty, even the wounded taking part in the defence. The plight of the Turkish forces, however, was now desperate. With the exception of Fort Saint Elmo, the fortifications were still intact. 

More information: Medieval Warfare

Working night and day the garrison had repaired the breaches, and the capture of Malta seemed more and more impossible. Many of the Ottoman troops in crowded quarters had fallen ill over the terrible summer months. Ammunition and food were beginning to run short, and the Ottoman troops were becoming increasingly dispirited by the failure of their attacks and their losses.

The death on 23 June of skilled commander Dragut, a corsair and admiral of the Ottoman fleet, was a serious blow. 

The Turkish commanders, Piali Pasha and Lala Mustafa Pasha, were careless. They had a huge fleet which they used with effect on only one occasion. They neglected their communications with the African coast and made no attempt to watch and intercept Sicilian reinforcements.

On 1 September they made their last effort, but the morale of the Ottoman troops had deteriorated seriously and the attack was feeble, to the great encouragement of the besieged, who now began to see hopes of deliverance.

More information: St John's Co Cathedral

The perplexed and indecisive Ottomans heard of the arrival of Sicilian reinforcements in Mellieħa Bay. Unaware that the force was very small, they broke off the siege and left on 8 September. The Great Siege of Malta may have been the last action in which a force of knights won a decisive victory.

When the Ottomans departed, the Hospitallers had but 600 men able to bear arms. The most reliable estimate puts the number of the Ottoman army at its height at some 40,000 men, of whom 15,000 eventually returned to Constantinople. 

After the siege a new city had to be built: the present capital city of Malta, named Valletta in memory of the Grand Master who had withstood the siege. In 1607, the Grand Master of the Hospitallers was granted the status of Reichsfürst, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, even though the Order's territory was always south of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1630, he was awarded ecclesiastic equality with cardinals, and the unique hybrid style His Most Eminent Highness, reflecting both qualities qualifying him as a true Prince of the Church.

More information: Malta Uncovered

Having gained Malta, the knights stayed for 268 years, transforming what they called merely a rock of soft sandstone into a flourishing island with mighty defences and a capital city, Valletta, known as Superbissima, Most Proud, amongst the great powers of Europe. However, the indigenous islanders had not particularly enjoyed the rule of the Knights of St John. Most Knights were French and excluded the native islanders from important positions. They were especially loathed for the way they took advantage of the native women.

To be continued... 

 

 

 In Malta, the Wars of Religion reached their climax. 

If both sides believed that they saw Paradise 

in the bright sky above them, 

they had a close and very intimate knowledge of Hell.

Ernle Bradford

THE GRANDMA WAITS FOR THE FOSTERS IN VALLETTA

The Grandma has just arrived to Valetta where The Fosters are going to arrive today to spend some days before their A2 Cambridge Exam. 

Meanwhile, The Grandma has decided to travel to Malta to search Corto Maltese, her great lover.

The Grandma loves Malta and she is taking profit of this travel to visit the island again and enjoy one of the most beautiful places around the world.

Valletta is the capital city of Malta, colloquially known as Il-Belt, The City, in Maltese. Geographically, it is located in the South Eastern Region, in the central-eastern portion of the main island of Malta having its western coast with access to the Marsamxett Harbour and its eastern coast in the Grand Harbour. 

The historical city has a population of 6,444, while the metropolitan area around it has a population of 393,938. Valletta is the southernmost capital of Europe and the second southernmost capital of the European Union after Nicosia.

Valletta contains buildings from the 16th century onwards, built during the rule of the Order of St. John also known as Knights Hospitaller. The city is essentially Baroque in character, with elements of Mannerist, Neo-Classical and Modern architecture in selected areas, though the Second World War left major scars on the city, particularly the destruction of the Royal Opera House. 

The City of Valletta was officially recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980.

More information: Visit Malta

The official name given by the Order of Saint John was Humilissima Civitas Valletta—The Most Humble City of Valletta, or Città Umilissima in Italian. The city's fortifications, consisting of bastions, curtains and cavaliers, along with the beauty of its Baroque palaces, gardens and churches, led the ruling houses of Europe to give the city its nickname Superbissima—Most Proud.

The peninsula was previously called Xaghret Mewwija. Mewwija refers to a sheltered place. The extreme end of the peninsula names Xebb ir-Ras of which name origins from the lighthouse on site. A family which surely owned land became known as Sceberras, now a Maltese surname as Sciberras. At one point the entire peninsula became known as Sceberras.

From 1566 to 1798 the Island was under The Order of Saint John. In 1798, the Order left the islands and the French occupation of Malta began. After the Maltese rebelled, French troops continued to occupy Valletta and the surrounding harbour area, until they capitulated to the British in September 1800. 

More information: UNESCO

In the early 19th century, the British Civil Commissioner, Henry Pigot, agreed to demolish the majority of the city's fortifications. The demolition was again proposed in the 1870s and 1880s, but it was never carried out and the fortifications have survived largely intact.

Eventually building projects in Valletta resumed under British rule. These projects included widening gates, demolishing and rebuilding structures, widening newer houses over the years, and installing civic projects. 

The Malta Railway, which linked Valletta to Mdina, was officially opened in 1883. It was closed down in 1931 after buses became a popular means of transport.

In 1939, Valletta was abandoned as the headquarters of the Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet due to its proximity to Italy and the city became a flashpoint during the subsequent two-year long Siege of Malta.

 

More information: The French Occupation-Visit Malta

 

German and Italian air raids throughout the Second World War caused much destruction in Valletta and the rest of the harbour area. The Royal Opera House, constructed at the city entrance in the 19th century, was one of the buildings lost to the raids.

The entire city of Valletta has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980, along with Megalithic Temples of Malta and the Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni.

The architecture of Valletta's streets and piazzas ranges from mid-16th century Baroque to Modernism. Buildings of historic importance include St John's Co-Cathedral, formerly the Conventual Church of the Knights of Malta. It has the only signed work and largest painting by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. 

The Auberge de Castille et Leon, formerly the official seat of the Knights of Malta of the Langue of Castille, Léon and Portugal, is now the office of the Prime Minister of Malta. 

More information: World War II-Visit Malta

The Grandmaster's Palace, built between 1571 and 1574 and formerly the seat of the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, used to house the Maltese Parliament, now situated in a purpose-built structure at the entrance to the city, and now houses the offices of the President of Malta.

The National Museum of Fine Arts is a Rococo palace dating back to the late 1570s, which served as the official residence of the Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet during the British era from the 1820s onwards. The Manoel Theatre was constructed in just ten months in 1731, by order of Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena, and is one of the oldest working theatres in Europe.

The Mediterranean Conference Centre was formerly the Sacra Infermeria. Built in 1574, it was one of Europe's most renowned hospitals during the Renaissance. The fortifications of the port, built by the Knights as a magnificent series of bastions, demi-bastions, cavaliers and curtains, approximately 100 metres high, all contribute to the unique architectural quality of the city.

More information: Daily Mail

Min jistenna jithenna.

He who waits is rewarded. 

Maltese Proverb

NOTTING HILL, THE FOSTERS SAY GOODBYE TO LONDON

Today, The Fosters and The Grandma have spent their last day in London. They are going to travel to Malta to spend some free days preparing their A2 Cambridge Exam in a peaceful environment.

Before leaving London, the family has visited William and Anna, some Grandma's old friends who lived in Notting Hill and own a bookshop. They have bought some books to read during their staying in Malta, and met one of the most wonderful suburbs of London.

Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. 

Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and the Portobello Road Market. From around 1870, Notting Hill had an association with artists.

For much of the 20th century, the large houses were subdivided into multi-occupancy rentals. European, Caribbean (both African Caribbeans and White Caribbeans), African, Indian, Arab, Asian, South American, and other immigrants were drawn to the area in the 1950s, partly because of the cheap rents, but were exploited by slum landlords like Peter Rachman and also became the target of white Teddy Boys in the 1958 Notting Hill race riots.

By the early 21st century, after decades of gentrification, Notting Hill had gained a reputation as an affluent and fashionable area, known for attractive terraces of large Victorian townhouses and high-end shopping and restaurants, particularly around Westbourne Grove and Clarendon Cross.

Notting Hill is in the ceremonial county of Greater London although it was formerly a hamlet on rural land until the expansion of urban London during the 19th century.

As late as 1870, even after the hamlet had become a London suburb, Notting Hill was still popularly referred to as being in Middlesex rather than in London.

More information: Visit London

The origin of the name Notting Hill is uncertain though an early version appears in the Patent Rolls of 1356 as Knottynghull, while an 1878 text, Old and New London, reports that the name derives from a manor in Kensington called Knotting-Bernes, Knutting-Barnes, or Nutting-barns, and goes on to quote from a court record during Henry VIII's reign that the manor called Notingbarons, alias Kensington, in the parish of Paddington, was held of the Abbot of Westminster. For years, it was thought to be a link with Canute, but it is now thought likely that the Nott section of the name is derived from the Saxon personal name Cnotta, with the ing part generally accepted as coming from the Saxon for a group or settlement of people.

The area in the west around Pottery Lane was used in the early 19th century for making bricks and tiles out of the heavy clay dug in the area. The clay was shaped and fired in a series of brick and tile kilns. The only remaining 19th-century tile kiln in London is on Walmer Road. In the same area, pig farmers moved in after being forced out of the Marble Arch area. Avondale Park was created in 1892 out of a former area of pig slurry called the Ocean. This was part of a general clean-up of the area which had become known as the Potteries and Piggeries.

By the 1980s, single-occupation houses began to return to favour with families who could afford to occupy them, and because of the open spaces and stylish architecture Notting Hill is today one of London's most desirable areas. Several parts of Notting Hill are characterised by handsome stucco-fronted pillar-porched houses, often with private gardens, notably around Pembridge Place and Dawson Place and streets radiating from the southern part of Ladbroke Grove, many of which lead onto substantial communal gardens. There are grand terraces, such as Kensington Park Gardens, and large villas as in Pembridge Square and around Holland Park. There is also new construction of modern houses tucked away on backland sites.

Since at least 2000, independent shops in Portobello such as Culture Shack have lost out to multinational standardised chains such as Starbucks.

In 2009, Lipka's Arcade, a large indoor antiques market, was replaced by the high-street chain AllSaints. Reflecting the increasing demise of one of the most culturally vibrant parts of central London, the 2011 Census showed that in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in which Notting Hill is situated, the number of Black or Black British and White Irish residents, two of the traditionally largest ethnic minority groups in Notting Hill, declined by 46 and 28 percent respectively in ten years.

The district adjoins two large public parks, Holland Park and Kensington Gardens, with Hyde Park within 1.6 km to the east. The gentrification has encompassed some streets that were among the 1980s' most decrepit, including the now expensive retail sections of Westbourne Grove and Ledbury Road, as well as Portobello Road's emergence as a top London tourist attraction and Chamberlayne Road as a local shopping street with its boutique independent shops. Notting Hill has a high concentration of restaurants, including the two Michelin-rated The Ledbury and Core by Clare Smyth.

More information: Roger Ebert

 You are lovelier this morning

than you have ever been.

William Thacker

1609, W. SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS ARE FIRST PUBLISHED

Today, The Fosters & The Grandma have been reading one of the most universal authors of all time, William Shakespeare, whose sonnets were published on a day like today in 1609.

Shakespeare's sonnets are poems written by William Shakespeare on a variety of themes. When discussing or referring to Shakespeare's sonnets, it is almost always a reference to the 154 sonnets that were first published all together in a quarto in 1609. However, there are six additional sonnets that Shakespeare wrote and included in the plays Romeo and Juliet, Henry V and Love's Labour's Lost. There is also a partial sonnet found in the play Edward III.

Shakespeare's sonnets are considered a continuation of the sonnet tradition that swept through the Renaissance from Petrarch in 14th-century Italy and was finally introduced in 16th-century England by Thomas Wyatt and was given its rhyming metre and division into quatrains by Henry Howard. With few exceptions, Shakespeare's sonnets observe the stylistic form of the English sonnet-the rhyme scheme, the 14 lines, and the metre. But Shakespeare's sonnets introduce such significant departures of content that they seem to be rebelling against well-worn 200-year-old traditions.

Instead of expressing worshipful love for an almost goddess-like yet unobtainable female love-object, as Petrarch, Dante, and Philip Sidney had done, Shakespeare introduces a young man. He also introduces the Dark Lady, who is no goddess.

Shakespeare explores themes such as lust, homoeroticism, misogyny, infidelity, and acrimony in ways that may challenge, but which also open new terrain for the sonnet form.

The primary source of Shakespeare's sonnets is a quarto published in 1609 titled Shake-speare's Sonnets.

It contains 154 sonnets, which are followed by the long poem A Lover's Complaint. Thirteen copies of the quarto have survived in fairly good shape from the 1609 edition, which is the only edition; there were no other printings. There is evidence in a note on the title page of one of the extant copies that the great Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn bought a copy in June 1609 for one shilling.

The sonnets cover such themes as the passage of time, love, infidelity, jealousy, beauty and mortality. The first 126 are addressed to a young man; the last 28 are either addressed to, or refer to, a woman. Sonnets 138 and 144 had previously been published in the 1599 miscellany The Passionate Pilgrim.

More information: No Weat Shakespeare

The title of the quarto, Shake-speare's Sonnets, is consistent with the entry in the Stationer Register. The title appears in upper case lettering on the title page, where it is followed by the phrase Neuer before Imprinted.

The title also appears every time the quarto is opened. That the author’s name in a possessive form is part of the title sets it apart from all other sonnet collections of the time, except for one -Sir Philip Sidney's posthumous 1591 publication that is titled, Syr. P.S. his Astrophel and Stella, which is considered one of Shakespeare's most important models.

Sidney's title may have inspired Shakespeare, particularly if the W.H. of Shakespeare's dedication is Sidney's nephew and heir, William Herbert. The idea that the persona referred to as the speaker of the Shakespeare's sonnets might be Shakespeare himself, is aggressively repudiated by scholars; however, the title of the quarto does seem to encourage that kind of speculation.

The first 17 poems, traditionally called the procreation sonnets, are addressed to the young man -urging him to marry and have children in order to immortalize his beauty by passing it to the next generation. Other sonnets express the speaker's love for the young man; brood upon loneliness, death, and the transience of life; seem to criticize the young man for preferring a rival poet; express ambiguous feelings for the speaker's mistress; and pun on the poet's name. The final two sonnets are allegorical treatments of Greek epigrams referring to the little love-god Cupid.

The publisher, Thomas Thorpe, entered the book in the Stationers' Register on 20 May 1609.

Whether Thorpe used an authorized manuscript from Shakespeare or an unauthorized copy is unknown. George Eld printed the quarto, and the run was divided between the booksellers William Aspley and John Wright.

The sonnets are almost all constructed of three quatrains (four-line stanzas) followed by a final couplet.

The sonnets are composed in iambic pentameter, the metre used in Shakespeare's plays.

The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

Sonnets using this scheme are known as Shakespearean sonnets, or English sonnets, or Elizabethan sonnets. Often, at the end of the third quatrain occurs the volta (turn), where the mood of the poem shifts, and the poet expresses a turn of thought.

More information: Shakespeare's Sonnets

There are a few exceptions: Sonnets 99, 126, and 145. Number 99 has fifteen lines. Number 126 consists of six couplets, and two blank lines marked with italic brackets; 145 is in iambic tetrameters, not pentameters. In one other variation on the standard structure, found for example in sonnet 29, the rhyme scheme is changed by repeating the second (B) rhyme of quatrain one as the second (F) rhyme of quatrain three.

Apart from rhyme, and considering only the arrangement of ideas, and the placement of the volta, a number of sonnets maintain the two-part organization of the Italian sonnet. In that case the term octave and sestet are commonly used to refer to the sonnet’s first eight lines followed by the remaining six lines. There are other line-groupings as well, as Shakespeare finds inventive ways with the content of the fourteen line poems.

When analysed as characters, the subjects of the sonnets are usually referred to as the Fair Youth, the Rival Poet, and the Dark Lady. The speaker expresses admiration for the Fair Youth's beauty, and -if reading the sonnets in chronological order as published- later has an affair with the Dark Lady, then so does the Fair Youth.

Current linguistic analysis and historical evidence suggests, however, that the sonnets to the Dark Lady were composed first (around 1591–95), the procreation sonnets next, and the later sonnets to the Fair Youth last (1597–1603).

It is not known whether the poems and their characters are fiction or autobiographical; scholars who find the sonnets to be autobiographical have attempted to identify the characters with historical individuals.

In his plays, Shakespeare himself seemed to be a satiric critic of sonnets -the allusions to them are often scornful. Then Shakespeare went on to create one of the longest sonnet-sequences of his era, a sequence that took some sharp turns away from the tradition.

The critical focus has turned instead, through New Criticism and by scholars such as Stephen Booth and Helen Vendler, to the text itself, which is studied and appreciated linguistically as a highly complex structure of language and ideas.

There are sonnets written by Shakespeare that occur in his plays. They differ from the 154 sonnets published in the 1609, because they may lack the deep introspection, for example, and they are written to serve the needs of a performance, exposition or narrative.

More information: Shakespeare MIT

To do a great right do a little wrong.

William Shakespeare

1611, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S 'THE TEMPEST' PREMIERE

Today, The Fosters & The Grandma have been reading The Tempest, a play written by William Shakespeare that was premiered at Whitehall Palace in London in 1611.

The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610-1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. 

After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, the rest of the story is set on a remote island, where Prospero, a complex and contradictory character, lives with his daughter Miranda, and his two servants: Caliban, a savage monster figure, and Ariel, an airy spirit.

The play contains music and songs that evoke the spirit of enchantment on the island. It explores many themes, including magic, betrayal, revenge, and family. In Act IV, a wedding masque serves as a play-within-a-play, and contributes spectacle, allegory, and elevated language.

Although The Tempest is listed in the First Folio as the first of Shakespeare's comedies, it deals with both tragic and comic themes, and modern criticism has created a category of romance for this and others of Shakespeare's late plays.

The Tempest has been put to varied interpretations, from those that see it as a fable of art and creation, with Prospero representing Shakespeare, and Prospero's renunciation of magic signaling Shakespeare's farewell to the stage, to interpretations that consider it an allegory of Europeans colonizing foreign lands.

It is not known for certain exactly when The Tempest was written, but evidence supports the idea that it was probably composed sometime between late 1610 to mid-1611. It is considered one of the last plays that Shakespeare wrote alone. Evidence supports composition perhaps occurring before, after, or at the same time as The Winter's Tale. Edward Blount entered The Tempest into the Stationers' Register on 8 November 1623. It was one of 16 Shakespeare plays that Blount registered on that date.

There is no obvious single origin for the plot of The Tempest; it appears to have been created with several sources contributing, chiefly William Strachey's Letter to an Excellent Lady. Since source scholarship began in the eighteenth century, researchers have suggested passages from Naufragium (The Shipwreck), one of the colloquies in Erasmus's Colloquia Familiaria (1518), and Richard Eden's 1555 translation of Peter Martyr's De orbo novo (1530).

The Tempest may take its overall structure from traditional Italian commedia dell'arte, which sometimes featured a magus and his daughter, their supernatural attendants, and a number of rustics. The commedia often featured a clown known as Arlecchino (or his predecessor, Zanni) and his partner Brighella, who bear a striking resemblance to Stephano and Trinculo; a lecherous Neapolitan hunchback who corresponds to Caliban; and the clever and beautiful Isabella, whose wealthy and manipulative father, Pantalone, constantly seeks a suitor for her, thus mirroring the relationship between Miranda and Prospero.

The Tempest first appeared in print in 1623 in the collection of 36 of Shakespeare's plays entitled, Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies; Published according to the True and Original Copies, which is known as the First Folio. The plays, including The Tempest, were gathered and edited by John Heminges and Henry Condell.

More information: Spark Notes

The Tempest by William Shakespeare

 Hell is empty and all the devils are here.

Ariel, The Tempest (Act 1, Scene 2)

SAINT GEORGE'S LEGEND, WHEN PAST BECOMES ETERNAL

The day before yesterday was Saint George and today, The Fosters and The
Grandma have decided to know more about his legend and his origins, which are very controversial.

They have been reading a wonderful and interesting legend about Saint George/Sant Jordi in Montblanc.

Once upon ago, there was a town with a castle named Montblanc. Inhabitants were farmers and makers. They lived happily. But, near the village, lived a terrible Dragon with sharp nails and a long tail.

Every morning, he hunted farm animals, ate two by two and then went to his cave. The dragon ate all the animals and the people decided by lottery to offer him a person to eat it.

Every day was sadder, Dragon visited them furious and hungry again and again. People gave him food so he wouldn't be angry anymore until one day, the princess, that she was young a pretty simple and very educated, was chosen to surrender to the dragon. People were terrified and all of them wanted to take her place, but the King said sadly that her daughter was like any other.

The next morning, the princess left the castle wearing a white dress, she crossed the village while the people were watching her sadly.

Suddenly, the princess heart how a knight arrived on a white horse. The Princess, very worried, stopped and recommended him that he should leave so he wouldn't eat it. The knight, who was named Saint George, told her that he would save the city of Montblanc from the Dragon.

Next, the Dragon flew over the heads of the princess, it descended and it and Saint George fought for their lives. Sant Jordi killed the dragon and he and the princess dragged his body to the town.

Meanwhile, the people greeted Saint George and they were very happy because he won the bad Dragon. The dragon died, and they said that from the blood of his wounds, was born to a rose, that Sant Jordi gave to the princess.

After, the King offered the hand of the princess, but the knight rejected it to continue fighting other battles (he made a cobra in Medieval style).

Then, the people were happy again. Sant Jordi rode his horse. He mysteriously disappeared and the Montblanquins, in gratitude, decided to let the world know this story.

Finally, they had a party for a week, dancing, eating and wearing their best clothes.

Today, Saint George is a special day in Catalonia. People bring roses and books to commemorate love and culture.

More information: Montblanc Medieval

 

Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey.
What fairy tales give the child is
his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey.
The baby has known the dragon intimately
ever since he had an imagination.
What the fairy tale provides for him is
a St. George to kill the dragon.

G.K. Chesterton

SAINT GEORGE, THE TRADITION BECOMES POPULAR

Today, The Fosters and The Grandma have continued celebrating Saint George, and preparing their A2 Cambridge Exam working some aspects like reading, writing and listening.

Download A2 Cambridge Model

 

Saint George (AD 275–281 to 23 April 303), according to legend, was a Roman soldier of Greek origin and officer in the Guard of Roman emperor Diocletian, who was ordered his death for failing to recant his Christian faith. As a Christian martyr, he later became one of the most venerated saints in Christianity and in particular the Crusades.

In hagiography, as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and one of the most prominent military saints, he is immortalised in the myth of Saint George and the Dragon. His memorial, Saint George's Day, is traditionally celebrated on April 23.

 

Numerous countries, cities, professions and organisations claim Saint George as their patron: England, Catalonia, Georgia, Malta, Armenia, Belgium, Egypt, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Montenegro, Palestine, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Aragon, Castile and Leon, Syria and the United States.

George's parents were Christians of Greek background, his father Gerontius was a Roman army official from Cappadocia, and his mother Polychronia was a Christian and a Greek native from Lydda in the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. Accounts differ regarding whether George was born in Cappadocia or Syria Palaestina, but agree that he was raised at least partly in Lydda.

 

More information: Independent

Some evidence links the legend back to very old Egyptian and Phoenician sources in a late antique statue of Horus fighting a dragon. This ties the legendary George, though not necessarily the historical George, to various ancient sources using mythological and linguistic arguments. In Egyptian mythology, the god Setekh murdered his brother Osiris. Horus, the son of Osiris, avenged his father's death by killing Setekh. This iconography of the horseman with spear overcoming evil was widespread throughout the Christian period.

As a highly celebrated saint in both the Western and Eastern Christian churches, Saint George is connected with a large number of patronages throughout the world, and his iconography can be found on the flags and coats of arms of a number of cities and countries.

Traces of the cult of St George predate the Norman Conquest, in 9th-century liturgy used at Durham Cathedral, in a 10th-century Anglo-Saxon martyrology, and in dedications to Saint George at Fordington, Dorset, at Thetford, Southwark and Doncaster. He received further impetus when the Crusaders returned from the Holy Land in the 12th century.

 

More information: Parliament UK

At the Battle of Antioch in 1098, St George, St Demetrius and St Maurice were said to have been seen riding alongside the crusaders, and depictions of this event can be seen in a number of churches. King Edward III (reigned 1327–77) was known for promoting the codes of knighthood and in 1348 founded the Order of the Garter. 

During his reign, George came to be recognised as the patron saint of the English monarchy; before this, Saint Edmund had been considered the patron saint of England, although his veneration had waned since the time of the Norman conquest, and his cult was partly eclipsed by that of Edward the Confessor. Edward dedicated the chapel at Windsor Castle to the soldier saint who represented the knightly values of chivalry which he so much admired, and the Garter ceremony takes place there every year.

In the 16th century, Edmund Spenser included St. George, Redcross Knight, as a central figure in his epic poem The Faerie Queene. William Shakespeare firmly placed St George within the national conscience in his play Henry V, in which the English troops are rallied with the cry God for Harry, England and St George, and in Richard III, and King Lear.

 

More information: Coptic Cairo

A late 17th-century ballad also claims St. George as an English patron. The ballad compares other mythic and historical heroes with the merit of St. George and concludes that all are less important than St. George.

Above the Palace of Westminster, there are six shields above each of the four clock faces of Big Ben, twenty-four in total, all depicting the arms of St George, representing the Flag of England, London as the capital city of England, and St. George as the patron saint of England. This symbolism is also repeated in the central lobby of the Houses of Parliament, in an enormous mosaic created by Sir Edward John Poynter in 1869, depicting St George and the Dragon with these arms, entitled St George for England.

Saint George, Sant Jordi in Catalan, is the patron saint of Catalonia. His cross appears in many buildings and local flags, including the one of the Catalan capital, Barcelona. The Catalan tradition usually locates the events of his legend in the town of Montblanc, near Tarragona.

By the 15th century Catalan men used to celebrate Saint George's Day by giving roses to women. Nowadays Saint George is not a public holiday anymore but is a very popular celebration. Women receive roses and books and, since the 20th century, men receive books and roses and the celebration is also used to celebrate Catalan national identity, culture and literature and romantic love. 

One of the highest civil distinction awarded in Catalonia is the Saint George's Cross (Creu de Sant Jordi).

More information: The Culture Trip

 

  

A people without the knowledge of their past history, 

origin and culture is like a tree without roots. 

Marcus Garvey

JOAN FOSTER EXPLAINS THE SAINT GEORGE'S LEGEND

Tomorrow is Saint George. The Fosters and The Grandma have been talking about this incredible figure, unknown and almost a legend. Joan Foster has explained the legend because he knows it very well.

More than a thousand years ago, there was a knight named George. Riding on a white horse and, wearing a breast date as bright as silver, he went over the lands in the country. His mission, as other knights who lived in that time, was taking justice and liberty to those who lacked them for one reason or another.

One day, George the knight arrived in a village where nobody could be seen in the street. He went to the blacksmith’s house as his horse needed a horseshoe, but like rest of the houses it was also closed.

After knocking on the door insistently, it was half opened and the blacksmith let him in quickly baring the door again.

-Milord, milord! Misfortune has befallen us. The upset blacksmith told him. 

-Explain everything to me, answered the knight, as he had never seen so much sadness and devastation anywhere else like that. 

-Milord, for some time there’s a heartless dragon who has been devastating the region. His breath of fire has burnt our crops and what’s more, he has been eating every animal he’s found in his way.

In time, the blacksmith went on explaining to George the knight, as there were so few animals left, the hungry dragon demanded to be offered a person every day to satisfy his greedy appetite.

Saint George

The king called a meeting, and very angrily all the people decided to face up to the dragon and they got ready to fight. They made big spears, palisades and a big moat in the hope of killing the dragon. When the dragon appeared, everybody fought against him in despair. But everything was useless and they were defeated.

The next day, in the presence of the dragon and with a threat of devastating everything if they did not give him what he asked for, they drew lots to see who would have to be handed over.

Fate willed that it was the princess Anabelda, the king’s daughter. The king and the queen were paralyzed as if a ray had passed through them, and both of them tried to trick the dragon saying that it had fallen to their lot. But the shrewd and wicked dragon was not tricked and, he took the princess Anabelda between his paws.

Knight George, after having listened to the terrible story told by the blacksmith, said: 

-I’ll have that dragon choke on his food!

 

And riding on his horse, he left as fast as he could to look for the captive princess. At nightfall the knight found the dragon’s cave and the princess, who was the most beautiful girl that he had ever seen. Suddenly the dragon appeared.

-How lucky I am today, I’ve got a double portion for dinner.

Saint George

He said laughing while he closed his eyes and smelt them with appetite. George took advantage of the occasion, and, as fast as a ray, he cut his head right off with his sword. The dragon’s blood soaked the earth and a rosebush with lovely red roses bloomed immediately. 

George released the princess and he gave her a flower so that she would calm down.

You’re so brave and generous having rescued me from that monster – said Anabelda, in love with that handsome knight.

When they returned all the people went out to welcome them cheering and hailing. The king and the queen could not believe that their beloved daughter was safe and sound. And as George the knight was now tired of adventures and, besides he was pleased with the princess’ company, they married and were happy forever.

Damunt el cel veig un drac
brodat de foc,
un drac que guarda una jove
en estrany lloc.

Above the sky I see a dragon
embroidery in fire
a dragon that keeps a young woman
in strange place.

Cançó del Cavaller Sant Jordi, Maria del Mar Bonet