Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Shakespeare, Virgil and Homer


It's always interesting to see what pop culture and commercial interests do with literary works and writers. I don't know what comment to make on the pig in Shakespeare, Ontario, other than to say there is also a Shakespeare Auto Repair Shop. But this Shakespeare is the name of a town, near Stratford, Ontario, where Shakespeare is indeed performed on the stage. Also, in the Niagara area, there are towns called Virgil and Homer. Virgil, appropriately, is in wine country. Long in decline, Homer now has the Garden City Skyway above it, carrying the Queen Elizabeth Way over the Welland Canal. On the ground in Homer is a cemetery, chocolate store, auto parts factory, and a gentlemen's club. There are also other cities and towns: Milton, Ontario (after the great poet?); Vaughan, Ontario (after the poet Henry Vaughan?); and Atwood, Ontario, named after the poet/fiction writer Margaret....