What is the Ides of March and Why Should I Beware It?

Caesar: Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue shriller than all the music
Cry "Caesar!" Speak, Caesar is turn'd to hear.
Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March.
Caesar: What man is that?
Brutus: A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.
~Julius Caesar by Shakespeare

In Roman times the Ides of March was simply March 15. "Ides" comes from the earliest Roman calendar which was somewhat complex. It utilized 3 days of each month as reference points:

• Kalends (1st day of the month)
• Nones (the 7th day in March, May, July, and October; the 5th in the other months)
• Ides (the 15th day in March, May, July, and October; the 13th in the other months)

The remaining days of each month were identified by counting backwards from the Kalends, Nones, or the Ides. For example, March 3 would be V Nones—5 days before the Nones. This convoluted method of time keeping was used in the Julian calendar as well and into the Middle Ages and Renaissance.



Note: "What are the eyes of march" appears as a related search if you type "the ides of march julius caesar" in to Google search.

Something else I learned: The festival of Lupercalia was held in Ancient Rome on February 15. The festival celebrated the founding of the city of Rome.

How to Write A Sonnet

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
~William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18

Composing a sonnet:

• First, select the subject of your sonnet.
• A sonnet is presented in 2 sections
• Express the thought or theme in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each (quatrain) with a scheme that rhymes on alternating lines
• Come to a conclusion in 2 rhyming lines (couplet)

Note: I actually think I have relearned this. I'm sure I learned how to write a sonnet at some point when I was in school.