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> WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, All the World's a Stage
Psyche
post Jun 11 08, 12:56
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All the World’s a Stage

by William Shakespeare


All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

by William Shakespeare


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The Lord replied, my precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.


"There is no life higher than the grasstops
Or the hearts of sheep, and the wind
Pours by like destiny, bending
Everything in one direction."

Sylvia Plath, Crossing the Water, Wuthering Heights.



Nominate a poem for the InterBoard Poetry Competition by taking into careful consideration those poems you feel would best represent Mosaic Musings. For details, click into the IBPC nomination forum. Did that poem just captivate you? Nominate it for the Faery award today! If perfection of form allured your muse, propose the Crown Jewels award. For more information, click here!

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Psyche
post Jun 11 08, 13:01
Post #2


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Referred By:David Ting



It would be wonderful to have comments on All the World's a Stage. It's SO well known, but I believe most people are familiar with the first 4L or so. That's true of me, anyway!

Comments on metre would be especially instructive, as well as content, which I consider fantastic.

Sylvia ***


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The Lord replied, my precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.


"There is no life higher than the grasstops
Or the hearts of sheep, and the wind
Pours by like destiny, bending
Everything in one direction."

Sylvia Plath, Crossing the Water, Wuthering Heights.



Nominate a poem for the InterBoard Poetry Competition by taking into careful consideration those poems you feel would best represent Mosaic Musings. For details, click into the IBPC nomination forum. Did that poem just captivate you? Nominate it for the Faery award today! If perfection of form allured your muse, propose the Crown Jewels award. For more information, click here!

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jgdittier
post Jun 15 08, 08:57
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Dear Sylvia,
Since metre is my matrix I certainly should respond here. It's not that I feel my metre is all that meretorious, just that it's my thing. I'm well aware I stretch it and use it such that other aspects of poetry are diminished, but it's the prime force that keeps me posting at all.

I've read "All the...." several times just now and remember much of it from high school. I hated Shakespeare those 60 years ago but in these last 7 years learned to enjoy his work more and more. It seems noble, more magestic than anyone else's I've ever read. I'm sad to say, I cannot put into words just why. Part of it is I understand well the thrust of his comment while at the same time recognizing how he's matched his thoughts with symbols and images far from what prose would allow.

Poetry with multi interpretations has always confused me and so that might be the main reason I like the way he writes. I went for a yellow highlighter, copied the page and began to try to scan the piece. I tried not to impose my typical sing-song on it, but read it as I believe it's spoken from the stage.

I've long written verse to include in it as much music as I might. Here is a composition where I believe its writer did not struggle long and hard to achieve its musicality, but rather, was endowed to write with such flow naturally. Shakespeare to me, never had to contort a sentance to instill his music in it. If he inverted the verb or came up with a laughable allit like "shrunk shank", it seems to me to be wholly masterful rather than corny, which would probably be the call now with the profs and their red pens.

It is true too, that I may have been brainwashed as a juvenile about the glories of Shakespeare, hated his work during my contrary years and now am the result of those early lectures. This I question but don't believe. I'm a doubting Thomas in many regards, well out of the political mainstream too. Mr. Shakespeare may have been blessed with the greatest poetic mind ever, but he also had an insightful mind that piloted his efforts to other aspects of life that didn't relate particularly to poetry or playwriting. I expect he'd be a brilliant conversationalist at the Mermaid Tavern and could have been the consummate politician had he the urge. "Seeking the bubble reputation"... could anyone say it better?

I believe also that great writing requires a powerful closing. Could he have been an more powerful with the closing here!
This last hour of reenjoying Shakespeare has been most rewarding to me. Few folks who have poetry as a hobby care a lick as to my thoughts, so your invitation is well appreciated.
Cheers, Ron jgdittier


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jgdittier
post Jun 15 08, 09:42
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Dear All,
Anyone who truly enjoys Shakespeare should in doing him justice, know him better than just the name of a man of literature.
Pete the Parrot , once visited the Mermaid Tavern when Bill was there and shares with us his memories...
(Note that the text is lacking any use of the shift key. This id because it is written by a cockroach named Archy who types during closings hours by jumping head first onto one key at a time in the newspaper office where Don Marquis works.

http://www.well.com/user/ari/archy/pete.the.parrot.html

or google Pete the Parrot

Cheers, Ron jgdittier


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Psyche
post Jun 15 08, 21:01
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Hi Ron!

It's nearing bedtime in Argentina, but before drawing the stage curtain down I want to say that I read Pete the Parrot and everything you've written, as well. I'm pleased that Will's -or Bill's- famous piece can still be enjoyed and commented on from various angles.

I have lot's to say, but necessarily I must leave it for tomorrow (hopefully). I love Pete the Parrot's running "conversation", as it brought to mind several of the soliloquies that I had to memorize and recite aloud at my bilingual school, here in Buenos Aires. Our exams were sent to Cambridge University, U.K., and we obtained an Overseas Cambridge School Certificate. Of course it was awfully boring to read the whole plays, but I did enjoy the great soliloquies. To this day I'm enthralled by Macbeth's piece 'Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?.... and so on, especially '....Thou sure and firm-set earth, Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear Thy very stones prate of my whereabouts, And take the present horror from the time, Which now suits with it....' etc.

Enough said! Thank you for zooming in on this Legendary Libation, Ron.
Till the morrow,
Syl ***


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The Lord replied, my precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.


"There is no life higher than the grasstops
Or the hearts of sheep, and the wind
Pours by like destiny, bending
Everything in one direction."

Sylvia Plath, Crossing the Water, Wuthering Heights.



Nominate a poem for the InterBoard Poetry Competition by taking into careful consideration those poems you feel would best represent Mosaic Musings. For details, click into the IBPC nomination forum. Did that poem just captivate you? Nominate it for the Faery award today! If perfection of form allured your muse, propose the Crown Jewels award. For more information, click here!

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jgdittier
post Jun 16 08, 11:41
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Dear Syl,
The author of "Pete the Parrot" is Don Marquis.
The "Archy and Mehitabel" series is just the very best tongue-in-cheek humor.
Cheers, Ron jgd


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Psyche
post Jun 16 08, 13:16
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Referred By:David Ting



Hi Ron!

Thanks for all the pointers. I did a little researching before returning here! If anybody else is interested, they can go to www.DonMarquis.com or else Google him.

I confess my ignorance. And now I'm going to attempt including an automatic 'brainy quote' of the day in my space/blog. I've been subscribing to 'Poem of the Day', quite free, for a while, and thanks to them I was reminded of Will's 'All the World's....'

QUOTE
I went for a yellow highlighter, copied the page and began to try to scan the piece. I tried not to impose my typical sing-song on it, but read it as I believe it's spoken from the stage.

I've long written verse to include in it as much music as I might. Here is a composition where I believe its writer did not struggle long and hard to achieve its musicality, but rather, was endowed to write with such flow naturally. Shakespeare to me, never had to contort a sentance to instill his music in it. If he inverted the verb or came up with a laughable allit like "shrunk shank", it seems to me to be wholly masterful rather than corny, which would probably be the call now with the profs and their red pens.


I entirely agree with you, Ron. I also read the piece several times and found much music in it, but couldn't decipher the metre (not surprisingly with me, but still...). And the humor mixed with a deep sense of human beings' frailties & faults...

QUOTE
"Seeking the bubble reputation"... could anyone say it better?


No, I don't think so!

BTW, I've also remembered that W.S. mentions the world as a stage towards the end of Macbeth:

"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage.
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."


Well known bit, of course, but how impressive... wow... An ambitious man's self-recognition of his own idiocy, but spoken in a universal voice.

Ron, I'm sure I have lots more to say, but my own particular nano-particle of life's stage urges me to get on with my fool's tasks....LOL....

Cheers and many thanks for all your highly interesting comments & information.
Syl ***


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The Lord replied, my precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.


"There is no life higher than the grasstops
Or the hearts of sheep, and the wind
Pours by like destiny, bending
Everything in one direction."

Sylvia Plath, Crossing the Water, Wuthering Heights.



Nominate a poem for the InterBoard Poetry Competition by taking into careful consideration those poems you feel would best represent Mosaic Musings. For details, click into the IBPC nomination forum. Did that poem just captivate you? Nominate it for the Faery award today! If perfection of form allured your muse, propose the Crown Jewels award. For more information, click here!

MM Award Winner
 
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Psyche
post Jun 18 08, 19:47
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Writer of: Poetry & Prose
Referred By:David Ting



Hi Ron, again!

Yesterday I was reading about a French defense lawyer, Jacques Vergès, who defended some of the world's most notorious criminals, such as the Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie. He advised the Serbian leader Slobodan Milokov and acted for the terrorist Carlos the Jackal. And so on.

I quote this bit from the article in the Guardian Weekly:

"Jacques Vergès likens his job to that of Shakespeare: presenting characters on the courtroom stage and making the public empathise with and understand them, no matter what their crimes were."

He's 83 now, and defending the former Khmer Rouge head of state!

Well, I guess that's all!

Cheers, Syl ***


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The Lord replied, my precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.


"There is no life higher than the grasstops
Or the hearts of sheep, and the wind
Pours by like destiny, bending
Everything in one direction."

Sylvia Plath, Crossing the Water, Wuthering Heights.



Nominate a poem for the InterBoard Poetry Competition by taking into careful consideration those poems you feel would best represent Mosaic Musings. For details, click into the IBPC nomination forum. Did that poem just captivate you? Nominate it for the Faery award today! If perfection of form allured your muse, propose the Crown Jewels award. For more information, click here!

MM Award Winner
 
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jgdittier
post Jun 19 08, 11:04
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DEar Sylvia,
I wonder which Shakespearean characters Verges is thinking of. Many of his plays I've never read or seen, prefering like my taste in opera to repeat and repeat the few I know and avoid ones for the first time.
It seems we should have contempt for barristers who represent the despicable in the world, but Earl Stanley Gardner often mentioned that the lawyer is not to be the judge and must do his best in the adversary system of law.
Cheers, Ron jgd


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Psyche
post Jun 19 08, 18:30
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Writer of: Poetry & Prose
Referred By:David Ting



I wouldn't know, Ron. But take a character like Hamlet, he sure made a hash of his revenge on his bad uncle, leaving a trail of dead along the way, including the gentle Ophelia... and himself!
Surely he could have hired a paid killer to bump the bad King off, instead of pretending madness and setting up complicated plays, etc. Yet we empathize with this diddling heroe, who has sudden outburts of rage (killing the wrong man behind the curtain...). I expect in a modern trial he would also be condemmed, either to the madhouse or goal....LOL....

As for Macbeth, he "sees the light" too late, having been urged on by his ambitious wife, the tricky witches with their "bubble, bubble, toil & trouble"... Even the ghost of his good friend Banquo haunts him, and he has real, guilty visions, as well as fabricated ones (the moving forests...). He would never have gone down that murderous road on his own... In the end, it's possible to empathize here, as well, IMHO of course.

I don't know about Richard III, but I definitely feel sorry for King Lear, who has 3 daughters, and the only good one is Cordelia, who doesn't lie to him....and so on.

One can also go further back, to Oedipus Rex or the brave Antigone, both tragic heroes who cause the death of innocents, for different reasons. And did you know that even Medea, who murdered her 3 children, has a load of reasons to behave the way she did? BTW, I posted a story about Pandora ages ago, which I always intend to simplify.... It was actually her husband who insisted that she open the fatal "box", which was really a large, ceramic oil or wine container, with a lid. Zeus had sent the vase as a wedding present to them, and it was Zeus who filled it with all those plagues... But Pandora remains the wicked one!

Well, I think those are my 2 cents to your question, Ron!
Cheers, Syl ***
PS: Hey, take a peep at the coming-up Times Ten Challenge: I chose 10 words from All the World's a Stage...haha....I never even do them!!! I challenge you to do it...LOL...


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The Lord replied, my precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.


"There is no life higher than the grasstops
Or the hearts of sheep, and the wind
Pours by like destiny, bending
Everything in one direction."

Sylvia Plath, Crossing the Water, Wuthering Heights.



Nominate a poem for the InterBoard Poetry Competition by taking into careful consideration those poems you feel would best represent Mosaic Musings. For details, click into the IBPC nomination forum. Did that poem just captivate you? Nominate it for the Faery award today! If perfection of form allured your muse, propose the Crown Jewels award. For more information, click here!

MM Award Winner
 
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jgdittier
post Jun 28 08, 15:43
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Dear Syl,
Well, I did it!
As a free verser, my excessive PL permits me to knock off a challenge with less effort than the pure poet, and so I don't relish them. They often impinge on my "tight rhymes and wry" motto.
Cheers, Ron jgd


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Psyche
post Jun 30 08, 19:27
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Writer of: Poetry & Prose
Referred By:David Ting



HE DID IT, HE DID IT!!!! Congrats, Ron, and a very good offering for the challenge on your part.

Don't grumble, hey?! If you don't re-invent yourself now & then...well...don't you get bored with yourself? I do...Ha!

I'm intending to post another L.L. soon, but not one of Will's.

Cheers, Syl ***


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The Lord replied, my precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.


"There is no life higher than the grasstops
Or the hearts of sheep, and the wind
Pours by like destiny, bending
Everything in one direction."

Sylvia Plath, Crossing the Water, Wuthering Heights.



Nominate a poem for the InterBoard Poetry Competition by taking into careful consideration those poems you feel would best represent Mosaic Musings. For details, click into the IBPC nomination forum. Did that poem just captivate you? Nominate it for the Faery award today! If perfection of form allured your muse, propose the Crown Jewels award. For more information, click here!

MM Award Winner
 
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