My Year Of Shakespeare

Me thinks thou hast fallen of the face of the earth

2006-11-08T09:30:00.000-06:00

OK, I intended this to be My Year Of Shakespeare and it turned out to be My Year Of MS and My Year Of Changing Jobs. I'm still The Bookman but I'm currently working at Michaels. Go figure. To all of you who end up here once and a while, thanks for stopping by and come back sometime. I'll try to post something Shakepearean soon.
I'm going to read Hamlet.

Venus and Adonis (pt 2)

2006-02-03T15:45:00.000-06:00

It is proven. A cold shower doesn't work at all. I'm still all fired up about this particular poem.
But when, at last

She takes him by the hand, and that is cold;
She whispers in his ears a heavy tale,
As if they heard the woeful words she told;
She lifts the coffer-lids that close his eyes,
Where, lo, two lamps, burnt out, in darkness
lies;

I am also cold. The bitter death of Adonis, hard fighting hunter that he was, leaves me shuddering in sorrow.
Maybe Venus, in her pure, lust driven enchantment, loved Adonis, not as a woman, but a naive, little girl.
She loved him truly, but did not seem able to comprehend the death of the one she loved.
Her incredible goddessly powers, were no match for the simple, raw force of nature (ok, a boar, but a natural one).

Sorry for the long delay in posting.
Thanks for listening.

Venus and Adonis (part1)

2006-01-08T15:57:00.000-06:00

It is fitting that I am starting out with this work. I learned two things about Shakespeare right away.
1. Venus and Adonis was probably written during a terrible outbreak of plague when London's theatres were closed as a precaution against infection. Shakespeare had already begun to make his mark as a playwright but this is his first work in print.
2. This isn't a play at all, it is a poem. Shakespeare didn't just write plays, he also wrote poems. OK, I knew of the Sonnets, but those are sonnets, this is a full poem. I guess I am in for more than I bargained for.
Venus and Adonis is an early example of the erotic poems that were fashionable at the time in London. This is one hot, steamy example to be sure. No wonder that it is his most frequently reprinted work.
Not being familiar with the tale of Venus and Adonis, or the telling in book 10 of Ovid's Metamorphosis, I quickly discovered that Adonis, pretty boy that he was, inadvertantly, yet completely enraptured poor innocent Venus. Or so it seems. Wait, isn't Venus the Goddess of Love? Yeah that seems familiar. Not so innocent after all. After begging, pleading, kissing, cajoling, kissing some more, she is very frustrated with his less than excited responses. Venus tells him,"

'I have been wooed as I entreat thee now
Even by the stern and direful god of war,
Whose sinewy neck in battle ne'er did bow,
Who conquers where he comes in every jar.
Yet hath he been my captive and my slave,
And begged for that which thou unasked shall have.

And then she says"

Thou wast begot; to get is thy duty.

Vixen!
Poor Adonis, I think you have bit off more than you can chew here."

Fondling,' she saith, 'since I have hemmed thee here
Within the circuit of this ivory pale,
I'll be a park, and thou shalt be my deer.
Feed where thou wilt, on mountains or in dale;
Graze on my lips, and if those hills be dry,
Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie.

Whoa! I need a cold shower before I continue.....

In good troth, it begins so.

2006-01-01T09:38:00.000-06:00

Well now, another January 1st has arrived. I'm not much on the whole calendar thing, but it does get me to work on the right day. Sundays, ok, that is spagetti night, so maybe the calendar is ok. I digress.
I have selected the order in which I will change my entire life around. Drum roll please....Tah Dah...I'm starting with the Greek plays (more to follow on why) and the first play is Venus and Adonis. Depending on how long it takes me to learn a new language, Shakespearean English, I'll probably post about my new life soon. And a very special thank you to Sandra at Book World for leaving the road clear for me to make a complete and utter fool of myself in public. The pressure is on.

Et Tu Brute?

2005-12-22T10:33:00.000-06:00

Shakespeare had a major effect in colorizing our language. He introduced, or recorded in print for the first time, many words and phrases that he used for the first time or had only been spoken previously.
Here is a short list that I found here.
I'll add more to the sidebar eventually.

metamorphose
critic
mimicrant
marketable
premeditated
manager
swagger
puke
assassin
zany
retirement

A fool's paradise.
A foregone conclusion.
An eye-sore.
Bated breath.
Budge an inch.
Dead as a doornail.
I have not slept a wink.
For goodness sake.
Love is blind.
Wild goose chase.
To thine own self be true.
My own flesh and blood.

Clodpole - dunce
dewlap - loose skin at the throat
bawcock - fine fellow
absey book - ABC book
flirt-gill - loose woman
hugger-mugger - secrecy
onion-eyed - weepy

Feel free to add your own via comments.

Mergers and Aquisitions

2005-12-18T10:00:00.000-06:00

Now here's an interesting bit...Isaac Asimov published close to 500 books in his life. That would mean he averaged 7 books a year or so, and would have published 7 books by the time he was 1 year old. OK, maybe he started a little later and that makes the averages even higher! I just acquired Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare and I find that his grouping of Shakespeare's plays into Greek, Roman, Italian, and English is much to my liking. My wife has already suggested that I read the Kings all in order so this will fit nicely with that suggestion. I'm still slightly undecided, but leaning in that direction. First I must finish that pesky 1599 and at least start Shakespeare, The Biography by Peter Ackroyd having aquired this one along with Asimov. Along with the 2 or 3 complete collections of plays that I have, I'm just about set to merge the plays into a coherent (for me)order and begin this madness, gentle madness.

New Chronology Of Shakespeare Plays Discovered!!!

2005-12-08T14:23:00.000-06:00

Now wouldn't that be nice? Seriously, I am trying to find the best order to read the complete works. I have my suspicions that it won't be easy since the First Folio wasn't published until 1623, many years after Shakespeare's death. And, get this, the idiots (or actors if you will) John Heminges and Henry Condell who actually put the folio together, actually acted in the plays and so should have known better, grouped them into the currently accepted comedies, tragedies, and histories. Not, I might add, the correct chronological order that they were written and performed in. Here's the rub, I'm asking you for some suggestions on the order to read the plays in. I am leaning towards the accepted (by me) chronological order that I found here. But, if I choose one that gets suggested here, in the comments, I will award the nice commenter/suggester with a copy of A Year In The Life Of William Shakespeare 1599, the very same edition that started me on my venture. Now I am off to finish the book so I can start on more prereading.

Shave and a Haircut....2 Bits

2005-11-27T13:23:00.001-06:00

From Romeo and Juliet, Act5, Scene3, Line 173 (or so)

"Pitiful sight! here lies the county (Romeo) slain,
And Juliet bleeding, warm, and newly dead,"

Now, that is a most sad and dusturbing scene.
The lovers dead.
Not a dry eye in the house.
Wait, what's this? Ta dah!!!
Here comes a foppish scaliwag, cavorting about the stage, jeering, leering, sneering and the like, singing and dancing and making merry to be sure. A Jig. Yes, at the end of plays in the Elizabethan era, a funny, lively, most often, very sarcastic and politically incorrect jig took place after the end of the play.
This was the Elizabethen Era version of the Daily show.
These jigs were probably very sarcastic and politically incorrect, to say the least. In fact, I read that people actually just came in after the play was over, without paying of course, just to see the jig.
I believe that this would have been my type of entertainment. I'm sure today the ineffectual leaders of some powerful, "super"power, let's call it "America" would be properly lambasted in a jig. Jigs for all, I say.

The D'oh of Shakespeare

2005-11-20T11:02:00.000-06:00

Sorry for taking so long. A persistant bout of Diplopia with a side of Ice-Slippia has made me a bit grumpy.
Now, I am a firm believer that books should be carefully handled. No dog-eared pages, and good, unmarred dust jackets are the rule in my book world. So, you can imagine my horror when I actually took a pencil (hi-lighter variety provided by my wonderful, very enthusiastic wife and blogmate) and, oh my god! WROTE IN A BOOK. I didn't press too hard but I had to mark some passages for future reference. It seems that having a blog has given me a strange permission to slightly mark up some pages. In school I was always the student who turned in pristine, unmarked (OK, unread, I was not of the school type.) textbooks. Just like Bart Simpson who expected special dispensation at the end of the school year by turning in clean, like new textbooks, my books had always been like new. I even carefully held those paperbacks to keep the spine from creasing. Now I am like a crazy person, writing in books and the like. Who knows, comments might even start appearing in the margins. Oh the humanity! At any rate, I'm sure Will had quite a few comments to make about the different books he read between acting and composing, so I have a sort of historical permission, as well as the aformentioned encouragement from my wife to defile my books. Tee Hee, I feel sort of dirty, and I like it.

Vanity, thy name is (was) Elizabeth

2005-11-13T18:02:00.000-06:00

It seems that Shakespeare was taking his very life in his own hands if he ever mentioned Elizabethss age. Apparently, her age and looks mattered a great deal to her at any rate. The French diplomat de Maisse described her attire as such

"She had a petticoat of white damask, girdled and open in the front, as was also was her chemise, in such a manner that she often opened this dress and one could see all her belly, and even to her navel... When she raises her head she has a trick of puting both hands on her gown and opening it insomuch as all her belly can be seen."

Now this is a very aged, one might say old, woman, albeit the Queen, who feels it necessary to bare herself to her audience. Watch out Shakespeare! She might take something you say personally. Shakespeare added quite a few special epilogues to plays that were performed for Elizabeth and he, very carefully, mentioned her mortality a few times. Good thing she liked him or it could have been "Off with his head!" or some other unpleasantness.

Uther fathered Arthur

2005-11-07T19:44:00.000-06:00

I read a interesting bit that had an actor, who acted with Shakespeare, schedule a rendevous with an admirer who asked him to come dressed as Richard III. Shakespeare overheard this and arranged to arrive before his fellow actor, dressed as Richard III, and enjoyed the admirer ever so much. Now this got me to thinking how Uther, disguised as Gorlois, lay with Igraine and so came Arthur. You see, Merlin used his power to transform Uther to look like Igraine's husband Gorlois, the Duke of Cornwall, in return for the child that Uther and Igraine would have(Arthur). While Uther coupled with Igraine at Tintagel castle, her husband was killed in battle at another castle. Makes me wonder just how often people conceive children with someone other than whom they think they are conceiving them with? to be continued....if and when I discover more shenanigans afoot. :)

And she was.....

2005-11-05T18:09:00.000-06:00

In my newly neverending search to find the Shakepeare translator; The device that will translate whatever is said into Shakespearean (Elizabethan) english; I have found something that has already given me several moments of pleasure, so far...
RhymeZone Shakespeare Search lets you type in any phrase or word an it will tell you which place(s) it was written by Will.
I entered the phrase "and she was" thinking of the Talking Heads song, "And She Was" and I got
and she was wean'd,-i never shall forget it,- Romeo and Juliet: I, iii
She turn'd to folly, and she was a whore. Othello: V, ii,
You try it, go to RhymeZone and enter it or another of your favorite phrases.
(Ok, yes, "breasts" occurs 10 times but it was purely for scientific reasons). Sorry.

Ring around a rosie

2005-11-02T18:19:00.000-06:00

"Ring around a rosie, a pocket full of posies. Ashes, ashes, we all fall down." OK, the urban legend about this nursery rhyme has apparently been debunked. Either way, at my book store the only things that I worry will affect my business are the weather, the Vikings game, or the Twins, and if Halloween falls on a weeknight. But Shakespeare had the Black Death to consider. An outbreak of the plague could really keep the theatre goers at home, or worse dead. Its hard to imagine London during a time of horrible groaning, dying..aargh.,just stop it. I hate having such a vivid imagination (sometimes). Regardless, 'ol Willie certainly managed to write a lot of plays during this time. I guess he had a very good immune system. I wonder if he was a Vegan? I'm sure i'll find out in my readings. At least he didn't have to worry about catching the flu from bottled water.(thanks abbytaylor).

Rough times.....Indeed!

2005-10-29T16:08:00.000-05:00

What a violent time Shakespeare wrote and lived in.
"Other than the Tower of London, which housed England's arsenal, about the only places to come by some of the larger weapons were the public theaters, where they were used to give a touch of realism to staged combat."
With friends such as actors who had access to the only other arsenal in England, who needed enemies?
Yet, there were quite a few enemies to be had. It seems a group of armed actors were headed to a theatre (not their own) to tear it apart and relocate it, against the will of the landlord. There was in fact a site all set for a theatre, but no building. Hey, let's go tear down that one, we don't like them anyway.
Rough times indeed.
Then there is the fact that many actors of the time were skilled at fencing. Many arguments among the actors, who spent long hours together in close quarters, were probably solved at the point of a very sharp blade. And, get this, there was a legal argument from medieval times that allowed a prisoner to escape hanging by reading his "neck-verse." This law allowed literate persons to escape the gallows by reading from the Bible in latin. A fairly easy task for classically trained actors of the time. This is what passed for entertainment in 1599. Go figure.

Getting started

2005-10-24T15:32:00.000-05:00

OK, I read the preface and let me tell you....Maybe everyone else but me is well versed in reading Star Dates but when there is a reference to (2.2.524) in Hamlet, I think that the Planet2 in Sector2 has Moons524. OK, I figured out that it means Act2 Scene2 Line524 but like so many others, James Shapiro, author of much Shakespeare stuff shouldn't assume that the everyday reader knows this. Take a moment, explain, I won't be offended.
Now I do appreciate the knowledge being given so I won't quibble (much) and say that I am really very excited see "the English pass their time, learning at the play what is happening abroad." as noted by Thomas Plater, a Swiss tourist who visited England and saw plays there in 1599. Now, that is the kind of detail that makes this look at Shakespeare seem, at the very least, very well researched. The author notes in his preface that the First Folio of 1623 put together by John Heminges and Henry Condell, who had worked alongside Shakespeare since the mid 1590's, instead of putting the plays in there sequential order, which they would have known, "decided to shoehorn them into the categories of comedies, histories, and tragedies..." and even then they aren't even in sequential order within these groups. Since I plan to read them in chronological, sequential, historical or some such order, it seems that I have my work cut out for me to find an accurate semblance of order. First, the history. Stay tuned.

Pre-Reading 10/16/2005

2005-10-16T13:05:00.000-05:00

This is the beginning of my year of Shakespeare.
I have always been aware of the bard and his influence on, well, everything and have finally decided to get to know him, and especially his works.
After much thought on where to begin, I have chosen A Year In The Life Of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro published by Harper Collins.
Stay tuned.