Author Topic: Poetry Page (Read 725212 times)

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4640 on:** October 16, 2016, 04:32:37 AM »

Our Poetry Page Reads
Shakespeare Sonnets

2016 the world commemorates
400 years since the death of William Shakespeare.

April, 1616. A man died, but a legacy was born; one which proved
so essential not only to the development of
drama and literature, but to language, to thoughts and ideas.

A Sonnet a Day
July 1, till December 1,
We read in order, from 1 to 154
A Shakespeare Sonnet each day.

Welcome
Please share your comments about the day's Sonnet.

Discussion Leaders: Barb

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4641 on:** October 16, 2016, 04:32:53 AM »

Shakespeare Sonnet CVIII

What's in the brain that ink may character,
Which hath not figur'd to thee my true spirit?
What's new to speak, what new to register,
That may express my love or thy dear merit?
Nothing sweet boy; but yet, like prayers divine,
I must, each day say o'er the very same;
Counting no old thing old, thou mine, I thine,
Even as when first I hallow'd thy fair name.
So that eternal love in love's fresh case
Weighs not the dust and injury of age,
Nor gives to necessary wrinkles place,
But makes antiquity for aye his page,
Finding the first conceit of love there bred
Where time and outward form would show it dead.

Shakespeare Sonnet 108
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbq4xfkC3R4

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4642 on:** October 16, 2016, 04:33:06 AM »

prayers divine,
I must, each day say o'er the very same

The Divine Office - or - Book of Hours.
Usually written in Latin, its origin in the Psalter,
which monks and nuns were required to recite.
The set of prayers marking the hours of each day
concerning the meaning and history of each of
the hours, sanctifying the day with prayer.
The Divine Office comprises only the recitation of
certain prayers in the Breviary, and does not include
the Mass and other liturgical ceremonies.The custom
goes back to the Jews reading the psalms that say,
"Seven times a day I have given praise to thee".

bellamarie · « **Reply #4643 on:** October 16, 2016, 07:49:49 PM »

Sonnet 108

What’s new to speak, what now to register,
That may express my love or thy dear merit?
Nothing, sweet boy; but yet, like prayers divine,
I must each day say o'er the very same,

Shakespeare is seeming to realize time has gone by, his boy/love is aging, yet he still sees him as young and beautiful as ever, so he will repeat it over and over again, just as prayers are repetitious, and continues to hold their meaning.

It's like for Catholics who say the Rosary, especially in the month of October, we repeat the same prayers over and over again while saying the Rosary, yet each time they hold a special meaning to us. Just because these prayers are centuries old, they remain beautiful and meaningful to us, as does Shakespeare's words for this person he loves and wants to remain immortal.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4644 on:** October 16, 2016, 08:26:49 PM »

I've just ordered a used copy of a book that sounds fascinating - just the review gave me a smile because it hit the nail on the head - the book - The Catholic Imagination by Andrew Greeley - and the preview says -

Catholics live in an enchanted world: a world of statues and holy water, stained glass and votive candles, saints and religious medals, rosary beads and holy pictures. But these Catholic paraphernalia are merely hints of a deeper and more pervasive religious sensibility that inclines Catholics to see the Holy lurking in creation. The world of the Catholic is haunted by a sense that the objects, events, and persons of daily life are revelations of Grace. In this fascinating discussion of what is unique about the Catholic worldview and culture and what distinguishes it from Protestantism, Andrew Greeley--one of the most popular and prolific authors writing today--examines the religious imagination that shapes Catholics' lives.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4645 on:** October 17, 2016, 02:46:48 AM »

Shakespeare Sonnet CIX

O, never say that I was false of heart,
Though absence seem'd my flame to qualify!
As easy might I from myself depart
As from my soul, which in thy breast doth lie:
That is my home of love: if I have rang'd,
Like him that travels I return again,
Just to the time, not with the time exchang'd --,
So that myself bring water for my stain.
Never believe, though in my nature reign'd
All frailties that besiege all kinds of blood,
That it could so preposterously be stain'd,
To leave for nothing all thy sum of good;
For nothing this wide universe I call,
Save thou, my rose; in it thou art my all.

William Shakespeare's Sonnet 109
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sg2Lt69X2U

bellamarie · « **Reply #4646 on:** October 17, 2016, 11:39:06 AM »

I have read a couple of Father Andrew M. Greeley's books. He sure sparked a lot of controversy in the Catholic church, especially writing very sexual oriented books. He was a bit of a rebel inside the church causing him to be an outcast.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/andrew-m-greeley-iconoclastic-priest-and-author-dies-at-85/2013/05/30/3cb18458-c937-11e2-8da7-d274bc611a47_story.html

Sonnet 109

Just more of Shakespeare attesting to his undying love regardless if he is absent from him.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4647 on:** October 17, 2016, 01:32:23 PM »

I've never read any of his books - I did not know he wrote other books - I just thought the concept of those of us who grew up in the religion having an almost poetic or artistic view on the world because of the traditions of the church a fascinating and heartwarming view point - I will be anxious to see if he suggests anything other than the words that seem so positive - found a copy on Amazon from Goodwill that always under rates the condition of their books and they were selling it for 77 cents - hurray... now you have me curious and I have to look into Greeley to learn more about the man and what he wrote and who he upset and who agrees with him - politics - me oh my - life was so much simpler when we all believed in Santa Clause - but then we did not get to participate as much did we...

Which by the way my daughter is realizing the boys are grown - last one graduated from collage so the idea of sitting around the tree was fine when there were gifts from Santa as well as family gifts but now that everyone is grown it does not feel just right - so what to do, what to do. So far thinking of having the dining table set near the tree and having our big Christmas morning Breakfast near the tree and exchange our gifts with each other at breakfast - not sure but we need to do something - what do you do Bellamarie now that your kids are all grown. I know I know not directly tied to the Shakespeare Sonnets but in a way - his talk of loving someone in all manner of difficulty seems a direct correlation to the difficulty of sharing love at Christmas with a new set of traditions.

bellamarie · « **Reply #4648 on:** October 17, 2016, 03:34:47 PM »

Barb, I can't imagine the last grandchild graduating college, since my youngest is only five years old, but there have been changes in how I shop for my six grandchildren. I decided a couple of years ago to give money and allow my oldest (21 yrs old) to shop and bring the things to me to wrap and I would buy her a couple unexpected gifts. When I have the annual sleepover/cookie bake with the other grandkids I have them go on the internet, place items they want in the shopping cart and once they leave in the morning, I would go back and choose which items to purchase for them. It works out perfectly because if it's clothes they choose the color, style and size, no returning things necessary after Christmas day. Now for the youngest two, who are five and eight years old, they too pick out what they want at Toys R Us online, they tell me which toys they want the most. I then choose, and also buy them pjs and a couple of outfits. For my adult kids, I send money in the mail to my daughter and son in law who live in Florida since shipping has gotten out of hand. For my two sons and their wives, they each send me a link to what they want and bingo!!! Although I always buy a meaningful family gift that each of our homes will have to signify family and faith. So easy, but I still stress out until everything is wrapped. Our family tradition is, on Christmas Eve we all meet at 5:30 p.m. Mass at our church, then go to my house where we eat, and then first the littles open up their gifts down in the family room, and then the adults open their gifts up in the living room. Everyone leaves to go home around 11:00 p.m. Christmas morning my hubby and I open our gifts to each other, then hurry and go to my son's house for Christmas breakfast and stockings. We play games and then go home to change out of our sweats or pjs, and then go to the other son's house for Christmas day dinner. This tradition will probably continue until someone decides we need a change. My hubby and I get over excited for decorating the outside, living room, kitchen, and downstairs family room. We usually begin decorating before Thanksgiving and leave it all up til New Year's Day. I absolutely love everything about the Christmas season!!! Maybe as you mentioned above is partly why I love this season so much...... "I just thought the concept of those of us who grew up in the religion having an almost poetic or artistic view on the world because of the traditions of the church a fascinating and heartwarming view point" It brings scripture to life, it gives meaning to scripture, and scripture is fulfilled. As the Holy family is complete, so too I feel my faith family is complete especially on this glorious day! Idyllic, as it seems, it's the fabric that keeps our family together.

I like the image of your table near the tree, and all of you eating breakfast and opening your gifts. It's whatever works for each family, but the most important thing is to share it with family! I've learned to accept changes in tradition, as long as we remain celebrating it as a family.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4649 on:** October 18, 2016, 01:54:06 AM »

Shakespeare Sonnet CX

Alas! 'tis true I have gone here and there
And made myself a motley to the view,
Gor'd mine own thoughts, sold cheap what is most dear,
Made old offences of affections new.
Most true it is that I have look'd on truth
Askance and strangely: but, by all above,
These blenches gave my heart another youth,
And worse essays prov'd thee my best of love.
Now all is done; have what shall have no end:
Mine appetite I never more will grind
On newer proof, to try an older friend,
A god in love, to whom I am confin'd.
Then give me welcome, next my heaven the best,
Even to thy pure and most most loving breast.

William Shakespeare's Sonnet 110
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeA7VPS_Uwk

bellamarie · « **Reply #4650 on:** October 18, 2016, 10:50:51 AM »

Sonnet 110

Is Shakespeare admitting to having a wandering eye? Is he confessing of indiscretions? Seems he is saying he wandering, has sampled others and is now back knowing that this one is the only one for him. Quite revealing, and very contradictory to the previous sonnets seeming to accuse his love of being unfaithful to him. How is he using a metaphor here, talking about his previous writings being unfaithful?

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4651 on:** October 18, 2016, 01:12:21 PM »

Oh Bellamarie - do not want to turn this discussion into the news of the day or a political routine but oh oh I have been laughing my head off reading this and relating it to our past president who is filling the news these days as the partner of a current candidate - see I never said any names

- I guess a roving eye has been around since relationships caught at the heartstrings -

I remember when we read some of Ovid everything related to love was blamed on cupid - been watching while reading Shakespeare's play Midsummer Night's Dream which shows the father's OWNERSHIP of his daughter and his right to arrange whom she will marry - a philandering eye seems to be an answer to Contract Law - which can be written or spoken.

Seems to me I remember reading a novel or two that had to do with a spoken promise that was broken and the ensuing law suit - never understood how you could love someone and be married expressing that love after you sued them to keep their promise of marriage - cannot remember the story - it had to have been I read it a long time ago - I seldom read books about romantic love. The Stories I prefer may have a love interest but its a by-the-way or even an undergirding to the climax.

This bit got me - I laughed, ironic however, if taken seriously, sad.

Mine appetite I never more will grind
On newer proof, to try an older friend,
A god in love, to whom I am confin'd.

Confin'd yet - CONFINED - me or my his appetite is such that an old friend, a God in love, is confining - sheesh... I pickup from this poem that he is saying a new lover makes him feel young - so what has his feeling young got to do with his love for his old friend??!!?? ouh yeh yeh

bellamarie · « **Reply #4652 on:** October 18, 2016, 01:33:19 PM »

Oy Vey!

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4653 on:** October 19, 2016, 01:02:35 AM »

Shakespeare Sonnet CXI

O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide,
The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds,
That did not better for my life provide,
Than public means which public manners breeds.
Thence comes it that my name receives a brand,
And almost thence my nature is subdu'd
To what it works in, like the dyer's hand:
Pity me then and wish I were renew'd;
Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drink
Potions of eysell, 'gainst my strong infection;
No bitterness that I will bitter think,
Nor double penance, to correct correction.
Pity me then, dear friend, and I assure ye
Even that your pity is enough to cure me.

William Shakespeare's Sonnet 111
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWLxBIk1GnE

bellamarie · « **Reply #4654 on:** October 19, 2016, 11:42:40 AM »

Sonnet 111

Than public means which public manners breeds.

Am I understanding Shakespeare to be saying, he is what he is because of the public?

Well, I suppose if we look at this sonnet and compare it to today's celebrities and politicians it would prove that living in the public eye surely can create an image, and yes even change the person you are into someone completely different. Did we not recently see in the wikileaks, (withholding the name) a certain candidate say she has “both a public and a private position”

Then, I think of the Kardashians and how they have built their empire on the backs of the public and media, and now recently Kim was in Paris, her hotel room broken into, she was tied up and gagged, and locked in her bathroom, while the criminals stole over 10 million dollars worth of her jewels. Kim was constantly posting not only her naked body on social media for all the public to see, but along with those gazillions of pics she was posting, she made it known her whereabouts, and was revealing her very expensive clothes and jewelry. Now it seems this has shaken her up, and has made her go into seclusion.

Shakespeare, the candidate, and Kim Kardashian West, have learned that the public can be friend and foe.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4655 on:** October 19, 2016, 12:26:55 PM »

Yes, if the recent public was ever a friend - I'm thinking we were more on-lookers, patrons at a circus or the zoo but not really identifying -

The one caught though - when bad happens they may wish they would be treated as normal folks but unfortunately for them - they are not.

Thence comes it that my name receives a brand,
And almost thence my nature is subdu'd

But then these lines tell it all don't they... I'm getting from the lines that no matter if he is pitied and forgiven it is not enough to cure him.

Pity me then and wish I were renew'd;

No bitterness that I will bitter think,

Even that your pity is enough to cure me.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4656 on:** October 20, 2016, 12:16:21 AM »

Shakespeare Sonnet CXII

Pierrot, a buffoon, a stock character of Commedia dell'Arte

Your love and pity doth the impression fill
Which vulgar scandal stamp'd upon my brow;
For what care I who calls me well or ill,
So you o'er-green my bad, my good allow?
You are my all-the-world, and I must strive
To know my shames and praises from your tongue:
None else to me, nor I to none alive,
That my steel'd sense or changes right or wrong.
In so profound abysm I throw all care
Of others' voices, that my adder's sense
To critic and to flatterer stopped are.
Mark how with my neglect I do dispense:
You are so strongly in my purpose bred,
That all the world besides, methinks y' are dead.

William Shakespeare's Sonnet 112
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebVI-vHCado

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4657 on:** October 20, 2016, 07:12:36 PM »

Well he does not care what his friend, associates or the public says he just wants this intimate friend he cheated on to forgive him - which would be thought of as making a fool of himself and acting the fool is how the stock characters, Pierrot in the Commedia dell'Arte is known - began in Italy in the early 16th Century and influenced Shakespeare. To this day the French still use many of the characters as decor at home on stage and merchandising. We seldom see them here in the US.

There is Harlequin, Pierrot and Pierrette, Pantalone, Il Dottore, Brighella, Il Capitano, Colombina, the innamorati, Pedrolino, Pulcinella, Sandrone, Scaramouche, La Signora, and Tartaglia.

Another picture of a few of the characters...

that my adder's sense
To critic and to flatterer stopped are.

The adder is a snake that is supposed to be deaf -

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4658 on:** October 21, 2016, 01:14:05 AM »

Shakespeare Sonnet CXIII

Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind;
And that which governs me to go about
Doth part his function, and is partly blind,
Seems seeing, but effectually is out;
For it no form delivers to the heart
Of bird of flower, or shape, which it doth latch:
Of his quick objects hath the mind no part,
Nor his own vision holds what it doth catch;
For if it see the rud'st or gentlest sight,
The most sweet favour or deformed'st creature,
The mountain or the sea, the day or night,
The crow, or dove, it shapes them to your feature:
Incapable of more, replete with you,
My most true mind thus maketh mine untrue.

Shakespeare Sonnet 113
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K76fUl5DYvg

bellamarie · « **Reply #4659 on:** October 21, 2016, 05:50:11 PM »

I'm still a bit confused, Shakespeare spent how many sonnets telling us how this young male youth betrayed him with his mistress, and how it devastated him, yet now all he can write about is his betrayal and leaving this young male. Throughout all of these sonnets he speaks of obsessive thoughts.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4660 on:** October 21, 2016, 05:57:14 PM »

I think if this Sonnet was taken on its own it would read as a beautiful love poem - it is difficult because we just did as you say Bellamarie go through a mountain of poems that ask for the forgiveness of his young lover and describing the poet's lack of commitment to his devotion to this young love and then this...

I think this is the perfect example of why something we read and included earlier explained, it is difficult to read them one after the other - looks like we just need to suspend our expectation based on reading the poems one after the other and see this one as a love poem -

Considering most people talk of the Sonnets as though they were love poems and we saw them very differently it is about time to enjoy a love poem

- Perfect day for it - cooled off a bit - sun shining - fall in in the air - I guess an Indian Summer day...

bellamarie · « **Reply #4661 on:** October 21, 2016, 09:16:47 PM »

Barb, yes I agree standing on it's own, it may have been seen as a love poem, but we have read these in the order the person placed them when published, so it's a bit contradictory.

Our temp today was 51 degrees with overcast, and rain. The cooler temps are causing the leaves to change quickly. Perfect Fall day. After my morning volunteering at Heartbeat, we stopped at Barnes and Noble for lunch. I had a pumpkin spice latte with whip cream and a pumpkin spice muffin. Mmmmm.... I came home, turned on the furnace, changed into my comfy spandex pants and oversized bulky sweater, curled up in my favorite fuzzy throw blanket with my dog at my feet and just rested. Oh how I love this season!!

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4662 on:** October 21, 2016, 11:38:17 PM »

awww Bellamarie you've had today the sights and sounds of Autumn -

Read this today - it is so magical I must share it...

I myself have seen this woman draw the stars from the sky; she diverts the course of a fast-flowing river with her incantations; her voice makes the earth gape, it lures the spirits from the tombs, sends the bones tumbling from the dying pyre. At her behest, the sad clouds scatter; at her behest, snow falls from a summer’s sky

A Victorian age, flowery translation of the poet, Catullus, born in Verona in 84 B.C.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4663 on:** October 22, 2016, 02:33:05 AM »

Shakespeare Sonnet CXIV

Or whether doth my mind, being crown'd with you,
Drink up the monarch's plague, this flattery?
Or whether shall I say, mine eye saith true,
And that your love taught it this alchymy,
To make of monsters and things indigest
Such cherubins as your sweet self resemble,
Creating every bad a perfect best,
As fast as objects to his beams assemble?
O,'tis the first; 'tis flattery in my seeing,
And my great mind most kingly drinks it up:
Mine eye well knows what with his gust is 'greeing,
And to his palate doth prepare the cup:
If it be poison'd, 'tis the lesser sin
That mine eye loves it and doth first begin.

William Shakespeare Sonnet 114
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bchx1HUbakI

bellamarie · « **Reply #4664 on:** October 22, 2016, 10:49:04 PM »

Sonnet 114

He is done with withering in mea culpas for being unfaithful, and is now back to praising all the beauty he sees in his love once again.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4665 on:** October 23, 2016, 12:03:57 AM »

Hahaha all I can do is laugh - it is so preposterous - hmm to say the same thing in 50 different ways seems to be the exercise he has embarked - nothing new - just new language -

ah yes "To make of monsters and things indigest Such cherubins" reminds me of the choice we have to elect one monster or the other - oh oh oh - wish there was a cherubin in the wings or, that one of these two were a cherubin in disguise. Early voting starts here on Monday and I still do not know if I should go third candidate as I was leaning since Bernie was taken out of to vote against the one that scares me the most - and now reading it does not make a difference that the entire voting by the public is a scam and that the preceding president has the next to be elected on board weeks if not months before the election to make the transference of power go smoothly. That for Bush to Obama it was months where as from Clinton to Bush it was weeks. With that Wikileaks email disclosure I have not idea if any of our votes matter.

Well can't digress - they should have election day scheduled for Halloween - far more appropriate... Trick or Treat...

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4666 on:** October 23, 2016, 03:00:30 AM »

Shakespeare Sonnet CXV

Those lines that I before have writ do lie,
Even those that said I could not love you dearer;
Yet then my judgment knew no reason why
My most full flame should afterwards burn clearer.
But reckoning Time, whose million'd accidents
Creep in 'twixt vows and change decrees of kings,
Tan sacred beauty, blunt the sharp'st intents,
Divert strong minds to the course of altering things;
Alas, why, fearing of Time's tyranny,
Might I not then say 'Now I love you best,'
When I was certain o'er incertainty,
Crowning the present, doubting of the rest?
Love is a babe; then might I not say so,
To give full growth to that which still doth grow?

William Shakespeare's Sonnet 115
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvdsq-Bi_vM

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4667 on:** October 23, 2016, 04:28:53 PM »

Oh my just lovely - another of the Sonnets to take out of the line of work we had been reading - this is lovely to realize all is time and how within the minutes, days, weeks and years things happen, things change, monumental things as well as tiny things - our hair blows in our face and we swipe it away just as in a minute we can quick fry an egg or pickup the phone or see a bird perch on the back of the patio chair.

Then to think of all the minutes we let go by without telling someone we love them - it is easy when the mood strikes but to think of sharing our recognition with another of how the add to our life and how our heart swells as we think of them or how in one or another encounter we take courage knowing they support us. All the ways to make our lives richer - yep, I like this poem... it helps turn my mind to the love that surrounds me - To give full growth to that which still doth grow.

bellamarie · « **Reply #4668 on:** October 23, 2016, 07:54:07 PM »

Barb, I feel your frustration with this election. The wiki leaks have surely enlightened us to what these politicians really think and feel about us as voters behind closed doors. It can't be on Halloween because it's all tricks and no treats. For me as a Catholic Christian it makes it easier because I have been given advice and counsel to vote for which policies and persons align closest to my faith. It may be a stretch, but it is clear to me. But, as you and others say, I'm not sure if our votes will count for anything. With the videos of the rigging going on from the DNC, the outcome could already be decided, just like them choosing their candidate and doing to Bernie what they did to Hillary. The fix was in back in the 2008 election when Hillary was the clear choice of the people so the private meeting took place at Diane Feinstein's house and shortly after Hillary announced she was bowing out and conceding the Democratic nomination to Obama who was behind ind the electoral votes. This time around I personally believe they threatened Sander's family as it was reported, they met with him and gave him a nice lump sum to buy his new vacation home and sent him on his way. And now I digress...... so back to Shakespeare who seems to be aligning with the election process:

Divert strong minds to the course of altering things.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4669 on:** October 23, 2016, 08:43:22 PM »

- had someone bring to my attention today - whom ever wins will not be in my home denying how I relate and love those who come through the door or for that matter how I treat those I meet as I go about my daily life. I think today's poem is what will support that kind of thinking and that lifts my spirit.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4670 on:** October 24, 2016, 01:19:08 AM »

Shakespeare Sonnet CXVI

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Shakespeare Sonnet 116
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBYBFqsKchQ

bellamarie · « **Reply #4671 on:** October 24, 2016, 12:30:32 PM »

Sonnet 116

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

This reminds me of this:

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4672 on:** October 25, 2016, 12:15:14 AM »

Perfect Bellamarie - we do not hear as much from or about Mariah Carey as we did before and after her twins were born.

The graphic reminded me of Alan Rickman even more than Kate Winslet - loved all his films - Emma Thompson had such a good eye and directed him in several of her productions - here is a nice collection of scenes with Marianne & Colonel Brandon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKvr-3WKuDY

So many love stories that are a result of Shakespeare's way with words and the thoughts behind them.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4673 on:** October 25, 2016, 01:53:39 AM »

Shakespeare Sonnet CXVII

Accuse me thus: that I have scanted all
Wherein I should your great deserts repay;
Forgot upon your dearest love to call,
Whereto all bonds do tie me day by day;
That I have frequent been with unknown minds,
And given to time your own dear-purchas'd right
That I have hoisted sail to all the winds
Which should transport me farthest from your sight.
Book both my wilfulness and errors down
And on just proof surmise accumulate;
Bring me within the level of your frown,
But shoot not at me in your waken'd hate;
Since my appeal says I did strive to prove
The constancy and virtue of your love.

William Shakespeare's Sonnet 117
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sopbw8sE9HA

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4674 on:** October 25, 2016, 04:41:44 PM »

"That I have hoisted sail to all the winds
Which should transport me farthest from your sight."

I'm sure if my parents read Shakespeare they would have quoted these line to me when I first married and moved all the way north on the Hudson River to a small town, Wappingers Falls, near where my new husband worked for IBM - and I too would say things to my family, who all thought that not only did I abandon them but, I was out of my mind so that I too would write and talk on the phone saying things that sounded much like,

But shoot not at me in your waken'd hate;
Since my appeal says I did strive to prove
The constancy and virtue of your love.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4675 on:** October 26, 2016, 12:30:48 AM »

Shakespeare Sonnet CXVIII

Like as, to make our appetites more keen,
With eager compounds we our palate urge,
As, to prevent our maladies unseen,
We sicken to shun sickness, when we purge,
Even so, being tuff of your ne'er-cloying sweetness,
To bitter sauces did I frame my feeding,
And, sick of welfare, found a kind of meetness
To be diseas'd, ere that there was true needing.
Thus policy in love, to anticipate
The ills that were not, grew to faults assured,
And brought to medicine a healthful state,
Which, rank of goodness, would by ill be cured:
But thence I learn, and find the lesson true,
Drugs poison him that so fell sick of you

William Shakespeare's Sonnet 118
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuTYjy6GWRU

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4676 on:** October 26, 2016, 12:43:35 AM »

And so he is saying the cure to his ailing heart is worse than the original sickness of unrequited love - Drugs poison him that so fell sick of you - Wow -

Today, there are so many foods rather than herbal tinctures called drugs during the Tudor period, that poison. Not because of anyone being lovesick either - not farmer or consumer - Its all in the seed manufacturer and the fertilizer manufacturer and the cost of water so that unsafe water is used - Sounds more like revenge except the manufacturers were never in love with us or our health so that there was no lovesickness to be cured. Their only love affair is with profit. The whole thing is so sad...

It would be neat if there was a pill to take for being lovesick - in that the pain is still the same after 400 years.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4677 on:** October 27, 2016, 02:12:33 AM »

Shakespeare Sonnet CXIX

What potions have I drunk of Siren tears,
Distill'd from lymbecks foul as hell within,
Applying fears to hopes, and hopes to fears,
Still losing when I saw myself to win!
What wretched errors hath my heart committed,
Whilst it hath thought itself so blessed never!
How have mine eyes out of their spheres been fitted
In the distraction of this madding fever!
O benefit of ill! now I find true
That better is by evil still made better;
And ruin'd love, when it is built anew,
Grows fairer than at first, more strong, far greater.
So I return rebuk'd to my content,
And gain by ills thrice more than I have spent.

William Shakespeare's Sonnet 119
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1qxgGGTP98

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4678 on:** October 27, 2016, 02:20:35 AM »

limbeck (n.) retort, distilling apparatus, alembic

Mac I.vii.67 [Lady Macbeth to Macbeth, of the King] his chamberlains / Will I with wine and wassail so convince / That memory ... / Shall be a-fume, and the receipt of reason / A limbeck only [i.e. the part of the brain where reasons are received will be clouded]

Sonnet 119 Siren tears / Distilled from limbecks foul as hell within

Origin of alembic
Middle English and amp; Old French alambic ; from Medieval Latin alambicus ; from Arabic al-anb?q ; from al, the + anb?q, distilling flask ; from Classical Greek ambix, a cup

1. an apparatus of glass or metal, like a retort, formerly used for distilling
2. anything that refines or purifies

bellamarie · « **Reply #4679 on:** October 27, 2016, 12:36:08 PM »

So sorry for my absence the last few days. Yesterday was my only daughter's 44th birthday and since she lives in Florida (me in OHio) I wanted to make her a special birthday gift. I went through all our old family photo albums, yes the old Kodak pictures that are not nearly the brilliant quality of today's digital pixels, and I made her a dvd. Starting with the hospital baby name card, that was in her glass bassinet along with the baby ink footprints the hospital took when she was born, and went through her forty-four years of choosing just the right pictures that would remind her of all her special times. Some of the highlights were: Sacramental celebrations, Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation and her wedding. Then, came first day of Kindergarten, Brownies, Gymnastics, Dance, Miss Ohio Pre-Teen pageant, cheerleading, and graduation. I peppered in some really neat quotes and pics I was able to get off the internet that was mother/daughter saying to fit just the right pics. I also placed music to fit the years, beginning with Taylor Swift's "Never Grow Up", then Britney Spears "Not Yet A Woman", next One Direction "That's What Makes You Beautiful" and lastly Chantal Kreviazuk "Feels Like Home." I won't begin to estimate the hours I put into this to perfect it and have it ready to put on her Facebook yesterday, only to realize I had to cut the music since FB won't allow it. No harm, I just posted the video and added the songs above it from YouTube, for her to play in the background as she watched it. Oh how my heart leapt for joy as she and I sat on the phone watching it together. She was so excited, and thanked me numerous times for it. She said, "You know Mom, I had forgotten so many of the things I was involved in since I have lived in Florida for over twenty years, and haven't been able to glance through all your family photo albums." When she came home last November for a visit we got out all the old vhs tapes and looked at those. Oh how the years fly by..... so now I need to place this on a dvd and send to her, but at least she has the video on her Facebook to watch anytime she feels like it.

Now back to Shakespeare.

Barb, I loved the link you shared of Sense and Sensibility. I am a huge Jane Austen fan, and have read all her books, but seen only two of her movies, Emma, and Pride and Prejudice, my two favorites. I must watch this movie now after viewing the link. My next to do is....watch a few of Shakespeare's plays. Okay so let me try to catch up here.

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