Think about this.
What if Shakespeare had miraculously appeared smack bang in the middle of the modern day pop landscape and begun composing songs for the likes of Lorde, Carly Rae Jepsen, Beyonce Knowles, Icona Pop or even Idina Menzel?
Or zipped back – or forward but not as far in his case – to help out The Village People or Gloria Gaynor?
Go on, surely it’s crossed your mind at some stage as you sat listening to the playful jests of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the gothic woes of Macbeth and the tragic love of Romeo and Juliet?
No? Well thankfully for all of us who never knew quite what we were missing, a brilliantly-inspired Tumblr Pop Sonnet, brought to my attention by Huffington Post, has not only pondered this but put virtual pen to paper and created sonnets that lend a whole meaning and iambic pentameter feel to a whole lot of songs we know and love.
And the results are, as Maddie Crum at Huffington Post has observed are surprisingly relatable:
“You’d expect ‘Call Me Maybe’ written in 1600s English (‘Now our acquaintance, only moments sown/ has made my heart fair logic cast away’) to be a funny juxtaposition, but it’s more than that: it’s a catchy, natural reworking that rolls off the tongue.”
Just how relatable are they, even to our modern ears?
Try these five (with the accompanying song to sing along to naturally) on for size and when you’re done, head on over to Pop Sonnet and glory in the power of the Bard’s imagined pop-inspired poetry … and remember to check back every Thursday for another new sonnet that Miley Cryus herself would be proud to call her own.
“I Love It” By Icona Pop feat. Charli XCX
