By Jim Curran

Often as teachers begin a unit on Shakespeare, they explain why they are putting so much emphasis on a single author. It may be better to simply state that Shakespeare is everywhere. Many authors borrow Shakespeare's plots (A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley, Mama Day by Gloria Naylor); children’s television reworks his ideas (Wishbone, Duck Tales); adult television alludes to his work (Star Trek, Frasier); cartoon characters play with the Bard's words (Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield); he is referred to in films (Renaissance Man, Clueless); and advertisements borrow his snappier phrases for captions and voice-overs. Students miss out on a lot if they are not Shakespeare-literate. To help them become more literate, you may want to try the following exercise:

1. Give students a working definition of allusion.

2. Cite examples of allusions to Shakespeare that you have gathered from newspapers, comic strips, magazine articles, books (including titles), songs, or films. Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country is a great example. Christopher Plummer's declaration that Shakespeare is best in “the original Klingon” and his wonderful use of Julius Caesar as he lets “slip the dogs of war” on the valiant crew of the Enterprise show how Shakespeare lives in popular culture.

3. After fielding questions from students, give them three weeks to find and bring in three allusions to Shakespeare to share with the class. Make a few minutes available each day for sharing examples as they come in. Students with CDs, tapes, and videos need to notify you a day in advance so that you have the necessary equipment. Audio-visual examples must come cued-up.

4. Students must identify the source of the allusion by citing the play, the act and scene, and the speaker for each submission. (A brief lesson on the use of a concordance, a good dictionary, or on-line searching may help here.)

5. The only major rule: Credit is given to the first student who brings in a particular example (in other words, the class will not have to watch the same clip from Clueless ten times, and only one student will receive credit for discovering it).