National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month, and there are always interesting ways to celebrate it. Apparently April 23, which is celebrated as Shakespeare’s birthday, is Speak Like Shakespeare Day. So tomorrow you could go around saying things like “thou art a gorbellied, muddy-mettled braggart” or “mammering, three-suited geck!” One of my personal favorite Shakespearean insults (maybe just a statement, really) is “I do desire us to be better strangers.” Simple and to the point!

When it comes to poetry and April, however, I often think of Chaucer, mainly because of his Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. It includes the famous lines “When that Aprill with his shoures sote/ The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote…” And so begins the tales of a group of individuals on an April pilgrimage. The tales are varied in tone, voice, and morality. They contain some truly hilarious scenes!

So if you haven’t read any Chaucer, maybe that should be your next “pilgrimage!”