Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Tool that Shakespeare Used

With all of Shakespeare's plays that have created a legacy in English and in popular culture as a whole, it is easy to overlook the tool used to write the plays. This small post is dedicated to the quill pen! I was showing Linda how to insert images on a post and the idea of this instrument came to mind.

In the Renaissance era, it would be impossible that to get anything written, without the aid of ink and this type of pen to get any progress made. From about 600 to 1800, this pen derived from bird feathers saw heavy use.

Nowadays, this tool is still used but usually for creative purposes in the field of calligraphy. A few Shakespeare images feature the bard himself holding a pen, a literary knight holding up his ink drenched sword.

This image and pen came from Conway Stewart, in which the site also has a healthy chunk of information about Shakespeare.

- Kristopher

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