The Big Shake’s Day Job

Here’s my very, very favorite thing about William Shakespeare: He had a day job. He was a glover in his father’s shop, pulling the leather on a post to make fine kid gloves. Later, in Twelfth Night, he spun a gorgeous analogy about stretching the truth like a kid glove, one which might never have existed had he spent his life locked away in an ivory tower.

Sometimes we are wrapped in discontentment, furious that we aren’t where we want to be. Doubtless young William would rather have been on the stage or eating meat directly off the animal, or whatever they did at parties back then, instead of glove pimping for his wealthy neighbors. But notice how he turned what was likely a frustrating chapter in his life into a moment of high art.

Expect, then, a world-class sonnet about A Life Without Internet shortly.

appointment pending at: mbe@drinktothelasses.com