The Bard; William Shakespeare!

The Bard;

No page or blog claiming to speak about literature could even think of itself as complete without mentioning The Bard, the man himself; Playwright and Poet, William Shakespeare! His works have influenced all the literature that came after him, all stage plays, all acting, all movies, and even a great deal of music; even if these things were influenced on an unconscious level! Let’s take a moment and remember him and send thanks to his spirit wherever it is for his life’s work, his efforts, and his dream worlds which he kindly shared with all of us!

What are your favorite works by Shakespeare? Think on them and how they may have influenced you in your life and world views!

I love so many I can’t possibly name them all but there are a few that must be mentioned; all lovers know Romeo and Juliet of course, as well as A Midsummer Night’s Dream! He wrote many comedies that are usually forgotten in favor of his tragedies! One of his greatest tragic works is Hamlet which has many of my favorite speeches that he wrote! One of my absolute personal favorites out of Shakespeare’s body of work is The Tempest! In the tempest there is a monologue that Shakespeare wrote as what has been looked at, as his good bye to the theater! The piece is referred to as Prospero’s Speech and it is not only true to life, but beautiful, and amazing!

Prospero’s Speech as translated into song by Songstress, Bard, and Singer / Musician Loreena McKennitt;

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And now my charms are all o’er thrown
And what strength I have’s my own
Which is most faint now tis true
I must be here confined by you
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill or else my project fails
Which was to please
Which was to please, and now I want
Spirits to enforce, Art to enchant
And my ending is despair
Unless I be relieved by prayer
Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself and frees all faults
As you from crimes would pardoned be
Let your indulgence set me free!

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Here are some of my favorite Shakespeare pieces;

OPHELIA from Hamlet;
"They say the owl was a baker’s daughter. Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be. God be at your table".

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Hamlet from Hamlet;

"To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep—
No more—and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep—
To sleep—perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub!
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause—there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of disprized love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death
The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action. Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remembered".

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Romeo from Romeo and Juliet;

"How oft when men are at the point of death
Have they been merry! which their keepers call
A lightning before death: O, how may I
Call this a lightning? O my love! my wife!
Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:
Thou art not conquer'd; beauty's ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
And death's pale flag is not advanced there.
Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?
O, what more favor can I do to thee,
Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain
To sunder his that was thine enemy?
Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that, I still will stay with thee;
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again. Here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest,
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!
Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide!
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!
Here's to my love!
O true apothecary!
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die".

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Polonius from Hamlet;

"This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man".

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~LET YOUR INDULGENCE SET ME FREE~