19 replies to this topic

[CheekY]

i think his works were very interesting in the past but now they seem a bit corny and old...especially romeo and juliet... judge me all you want but i dont like it...
does anyone agree?? i guess not...

Edited by skittles, 16 November 2003 - 01:23 AM.

[Stormig]

Shakespeare's original is fine, but the movie where Leonardo and that girl played sucked big time. "Draw out your swords!"

[nairi]

Ah, what a pity Skittles... Maybe you should try some of his darker tragedies: Macbeth or Hamlet. I really like his sonnets as well. They're definitely timeless, in my opinion. Here's a few:

12

When I do count the clock that tells the time
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night,
When I behold the violet past prime
And sable curls all silvered o'ver with white,
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves,
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd
And summer's green all girded up in sheaves
Borne on the bier with white and bristy beard:
Then of thy beauty do I question make
That thou among the wastes of time must go,
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake,
And die as fast as they see others grow,
And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defense
Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.


18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.


130

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses demasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.


138

When my love swears that she is made of truth
I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutor'd youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth suppress'd.
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O, love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love loves not to have years told:
Therefore I lie with her and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be.


146

Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth,
[Lord of] these rebel powers that thee array;
Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth,
Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?
Why so large cost, having so short a lease,
Dost thou upon thy fading mansion spend?
Shall worms, inheritors of this excess,
Eat up thy charge? is this thy body's end?
Then soul, live thou upon thy servant's loss,
And let that pine to aggravate thy store;
Buy terms divine in selling hours of dross;
Within be fed, without be rich no more:
So shalt thou feed on Death, that feeds on men,
And Death once dead, there's no more dying then.


147

My love is as a fever, longing still
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
The uncertain sickly appetite to please.
My reason, the physician to my love,
Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,
Hath left me, and I desperate now approve
Desire is death, which physic did except.
Past cure I am, now reason is past care,
And frantic-mad with evermore unrest;
My thoughts and my discourse as madmen's are,
At random from the truth vainly express'd;
For I have sworn thee fair and thought thee bright,
Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.

[THOTH]

Yes Nairi - I certainly agree...Shakespeare has it all...really in some ways the pinnacle of English language prose...stories and parables whose messages (small & large)still resonate even today (agreed - timeless)

Wer'e considering going to see "a midsummer nights dream" with the kids...weve been to several productions at the theater (most awesome)!

http://www.shakespea....org/index.html

http://www.shakespea.../midsummer.html

Another great local (for us) Shakespeare resource...(affiliated with the former)

http://www.folger.edu/Home_02B.html


and (complete works)
http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/

and speaking of movie adaptations - Henry V with Kenneth Branaw is awesome!

[CheekY]

ah i used to even like romeo and juliet(not the movie lol) a few years ago...maybe something's gone wrong in my head? lol

ooh but i'd like to watch the plays...

Edited by skittles, 17 November 2003 - 04:39 AM.

[Dan]

I don't like Romeo and Juliet. I think it's hugely overrated.

[SirumemKez20]

I really like Hamlet

[Dan]

I haven't read it.

I loved Love's Labour's Lost. I haven't read Twelfth Night, but I've seen the movie, and it's funny.

I have to read Othello next term.

[Harut]

it's said that Shakespeare was very financially motivated writer. writing was a business/career for him. many times wrote plays by order.
is this accurate?

[Anileve]

Ahhh Shakespeare king of profound insults.

"Live in the rank sweat of an enseamed bed, strewed in corruption, honeying and making love over a nasty sty"

[Dan]

I believe Shakespeare was not the poor country man he was thought to be... hmm... I think he was a prince who didn't want to put his real name... I'm not sure though. I read a very convincing account of it once, and I can't seem to remember where I read it..

[nairi]

That's interesting Dan. I read a few convincing things on Shakespeare not actually being Shakespeare either, but about 20 different people

I think there's two schools here: the Strats and the anti-Strats Thank God I'm not an expert in Shakespeare!! Just take a look at THIS if you don't know what I'm talking about

I don't know Harut. Theater was in part business at the time, a bit like Hollywood today. I wouldn't be surprised if at least some of Shakespeare's plays were written on command.

As for those who are interested HERE'S a quiz to test your knowledge on Shakespeare. You'll get an extra point if you can tell me whether this test was made by Strats or anti-Strats

[Dan]

That's interesting Dan. I read a few convincing things on Shakespeare not actually being Shakespeare either, but about 20 different people

Yep, I've read that somewhere too... hmmm..

HERE'S a quiz to test your knowledge on Shakespeare. You'll get an extra point if you can tell me whether this test was made by Strats or anti-Strats

I got 100%... My knowledge of Shakespeare is close to zero, or so I thought...

I'm assuming the test was made by Strats...

[nairi]

I got 100%... My knowledge of Shakespeare is close to zero, or so I thought...

Loser

I'm assuming the test was made by Strats... 

[sev-mard]

I have to read Othello next term.

Othello's cool because there's a brotha in it!

[vava]

Actually Othello is one of my favourite works by Shakespeare. Right up there with MacBeth. I think, for those who find the 'old English' a little slow and difficult, then you must try to look beyond the language issue and just read the story. They're actually enagaging, interesting plays, and many are timeless - and can quite easily be adapted to fit today's model of scriptingwriting...

[allarmeniangirl]

I'm not a fan of Shakspeare because his plays are just too predictable.
There's an idea that Shakespeare's plays are not really his plays, because he was never really educated. Also, his plays were somewhat non fictional. Othello is an example.

This thread has not had a reply since last month. Kind of sad, since it is Shakespeare.

[Arpa]

Today, April 23 is Old Billie's 440th birthday.
Of all the plays, dramas, comedies, poems, sonnets et al a little known fact is how many cliches and idioms we use today were first coined by him.
From the site below.

http://news.national...hakespeare.html

• Pomp and circumstance
• Foregone conclusion
• Full circle
• The makings of
• Method in the madness
• Neither rhyme nor reason
• One fell swoop
• Seen better days
• It smells to heaven
• A sorry sight
• A spotless reputation
• Strange bedfellows
• The world's (my) oyster

And more, like "Alas poor Yorick" etc.

[nairi]

Although he may have coined many new words, and especially expressions, he mostly recorded how people were speaking at the time. In fact, many of the words he coined didn't survive the language, but those that he recorded did.

[Anonymouse]

The truth of the matter is, is Shakespeare the true author? I tend to gravitate toward Francis Bacon.