PRIMARY

The tale of the lost penknife

Shakespeare would have written with a feather called a . Our word ‘’ comes from the Latin word ‘penna’ which means feather. In Tudor times, were made from the central hollow rib, or quill, of a wing feather usually from birds like swans or geese.

There are nearly a million words in Shakespeare’s plays and poems. All written with a quill.

Preparing a quill would have taken many stages including soaking the feather in water, cutting the stem to the correct angle and making a . At this time, penknives were used to cut and sharpen .

CC-BY-NC-ND Image Courtesy of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

We have a very special penknife in our collection at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. This penknife is over 400 years old. Originally, penknives had fixed, rigid attached to long handles, but this penknife is different; it has a collapsible designed to fold back into its handle when not in use and is more like a modern penknife.

For a full range of resources see: shakespeare.org.uk/primaryresources

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The tale of the lost penknife

This particular penknife was found in Southwark in London, on the banks of the River Thames. It’s interesting to note that Shakespeare worked in this part of London when he was writing plays. However, there is no evidence to suggest that this once belonged to Shakespeare – in fact, we have no idea who once owned it.

Activity Choose one of the writing ideas from the list below, and using the information provided above, re-tell the mystery of the penknife in the river!

Write about who owned the penknife and why it got lost in the River Thames. Make a poster trying to find the owner of the found penknife.

For a full range of resources see: shakespeare.org.uk/primaryresources

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