William Shakespeare, long revered as the top dog of the English language, celebrates his birthday today. TED-Ed celebrates the Bard’s big day by highlighting some of his best language — from his beautiful, romantic metaphors to his pointed, scathing insults.

Beyond giving the world dozens of English language masterpieces and inventing countless words (including the word countless), Shakespeare certainly had a way with the romantic turn of phrase. In this TED-Ed Lesson, Anthony John Peters explains why Shakespeare’s coy use of metaphor was so effective — and may just help you get a date today.

Shakespeare also excelled at delivering some serious smack talk. April Gudenrath explores a few of Shakespeare’s most clever insults in this TED-Ed Lesson.

Want more on Shakespeare?
Check out this lesson on the development of English drama to see what theater was like before Shakespeare came on the scene. >>

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