Dead Poets Day: it’s not just the anniversary of Shakespeare – or even Cervantes

Rupert Brooke, William Wordsworth and the 18th-century writer Thomas Tickell are among the others to have died at this rich time of year for centenaries

Even in Spain, it seems, commemoration of Cervantes’s death in April 1616 is being overshadowed by the Shakespeare festivities centred on (more or less) the same day. Contrasting the ambition and scope of the programme marking the playwright’s quadricentennial with the half-heartedness of Cervantes 400 – sheepishly described by the culture ministry to the BBC as “a work in progress”, with some events only arriving in 2017 – the head of Spain’s Royal Academy lamented the lack of a “major gesture” and glumly noted that “we’ve had 400 years to prepare for this”.

The UK has at least paid tribute in the form of the RSC’s stage adaptation of Don Quixote; but otherwise even London’s Cervantes Institute has shown only limited enthusiasm, gesturally marking the anniversary this month with a concert, exhibition and lecture but scarcely pushing the boat out.

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