When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope, With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, Haply I think on thee, and then my state, (Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate; For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope, With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, Haply I think on thee,(obviously thinking of cafc) and then my state, (Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate; For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
I know Shakespeare is boring and impenetrable to a lot of people, mainly because it has been 'taught' badly. But 450 years on and folk are still able to make a shedload of money from his efforts, so there must be something in all the adulation. For me William Shakespeare is so good, so important, that it could easily be argued that he was the greatest Englishman ever, although Edward Jenner....
PL54 has posted some good ones there, common and useful. Shakespeare was also creative enough to make phrases that are also memorable because we know what they mean even if they don't mean what they usually do. For example; 'light thickens'. In my view Shakespeare was the greatest playwright ever and only challenged by the north Europeans in late Victorian times, Ibsen, Strindberg, Gorky and most of all the wonderful and brilliant Anton Chekov. Until first class cricketer (yes really, in Wisden) Samuel Beckett came along and moved the art further. However today is a glorious day, 450 years since the great man was born.
I have seen Hamlet a couple of times and, it has bored me rigid each time, but I have to admit that it is like an encycopedia of 'where commonly used phrases come from'. Macbeth on the other hand, now that is amazing.
Macbeth is my favourite, dark and bloody with tragedy thrown in. Also look at the best tv shows who's main characters follow the same arc as Macbeth, admired and loved by the audience at the beginning right until the end despite the horrific things he ends up doing.
Comments
The sonnets are also very good. here is one:
When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
You could say it went from bard to verse!!!!
No, Danny Green now plays for Charlton
Favourite is Romeo and Juliet, probably because I did this for English Lit at school. Hamlet is monumental though.
For me William Shakespeare is so good, so important, that it could easily be argued that he was the greatest Englishman ever, although Edward Jenner....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jenner
....could also take that accolade as he has saved more lives than anybody who ever lived.
Acted in MND at primary school - played Flute andThisby
- "For goodness sake" - Henry VIII
- "Neither here not there" - Othello
- "Mum's the word" - Henry VI, Part II
- "Eaten out of house and home" - Henry IV, Part II
- "Rant" - Hamlet
- "Knock knock! Who's there?" - Macbeth
- "All's well that ends well" - All's Well That Ends Well
- "With bated breath" - The Merchant of Venice
- "A wild goose chase" - Romeo and Juliet
- "Assassination" - Macbeth
- "Too much of a good thing" - As You Like It
- "A heart of gold" - Henry V
- "Such stuff as dreams are made on" - The Tempest
- "Fashionable" - Troilus and Cressida
- "What the dickens" - The Merry Wives of Windsor
- "Puking" - As You Like It
- "Lie low" - Much Ado About Nothing
- "Dead as a doornail" - Henry VI, Part II
- "Not slept one wink" - Cymbeline
- "Foregone conclusion" - Othello
- "The world's mine oyster" - The Merry Wives of Windsor
- "Obscene" - Love's Labour's Lost
- "Bedazzled" - The Taming of the Shrew
- "In stitches" - Twelfth Night
- "Addiction" - Othello
- "Naked truth" - Love's Labour's Lost
- "Faint-hearted" - Henry VI, Part I
- "Send him packing" - Henry IV
- "Vanish into thin air" - Othello
- "Swagger" - Henry V
- "Own flesh and blood" - Hamlet
- "Truth will out" - The Merchant of Venice
- "Zany" - Love's Labour's Lost
- "Give the devil his due" - Henry IV, Part I
- "There's method in my madness" - Hamlet
- "Salad days" - Antony and Cleopatra
- "Wear your heart on your sleeve" - Othello
- "Spotless reputation" - Richard II
- "Full circle" - King Lear
- "There's the rub" - Hamlet
- "All of a sudden" - The Taming of the Shrew
- "Come what, come may" - Macbeth
In my view Shakespeare was the greatest playwright ever and only challenged by the north Europeans in late Victorian times, Ibsen, Strindberg, Gorky and most of all the wonderful and brilliant Anton Chekov. Until first class cricketer (yes really, in Wisden) Samuel Beckett came along and moved the art further.
However today is a glorious day, 450 years since the great man was born.
...great pun too.