‘ “The diamond,--why, ‘twas beautiful and hard,

Whereto his invised properties did tend;…” ’

-Narrator

 

A Lover’s Complaint                         Line 212

We are finally back to a non-play line, and what do we have? It’s A Lover’s Complaint, a poem by Will that’s 329 lines long. It tells the story of an old man coming across a young girl out in the woods sitting by a stream. The girl tells the old man the story of a young man that she fell for who then dumped her. Part of the story (including today’s Totally Random line) is the young girl quoting what the young man said to her. He had told her, among other things, that he’d been with a lot of women and that many of them gave him gifts, including precious stones. He lists out the gems and the first that he lists is diamonds, and these two lines are about these diamonds. So really all we have for today is that a diamond is as hard and as beautiful as it should be. Not very exciting.

Now I have to be honest, I did my best to read most of these 329 lines last night. You guessed right; I fell asleep. If you think Will’s plays are hard to understand, you should try this poem. And I was reading a fully annotated version. It’s just really difficult to follow. This morning I found a good summary of the poem if you’re interested.

https://www.mcgoodwin.net/pages/otherbooks/ws_loverscomplaint.html

If you read the summary first (and it’s pretty short) it of course makes Will’s words easier to understand. But you still pretty much need an annotated version. And there is a spoken version out there on the web if you’re interested. Honestly, I really wasn’t.

Apparently this is another one of those Will works that has some serious academic thought that it’s not really Will’s work. What else is new.  

I did have one very striking thought when reading this poem. There is a band called the Gabe Dixon Band and they have tune called And The World Turned. The tune is about a girl standing on a rock by the water and lamenting a lost love. It kind of seemed (at least to me) that Mr. Dixon had just read this poem when he wrote that song. I found the song on YouTube if you want to take a listen. There’s a good chance that you won’t hear what I heard in terms of relation to the poem, but there it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFA9l5Ji-8g

Finally, my compilation has fifty-seven pages of non-play materials; sonnets and poems. That’s about 5%. We’ve done 72 random selections and this is our second non-play selection. That’s about 3%. So we’re not too far off and I maintain that the random selection system is working just fine, thank you. Also, this poem takes up 3 pages of my 1,252 page compilation, so there’s about a .2% chance of coming back here on any given day. That’s .2, as in 2 in 1,000 chance. That being said, we’ll probably be back here tomorrow. Ooof.

These are the guys. I saw them as the backup act for Loggins and Messina and their song reminds me of A Lover's Complaint. What do you think?

Then march to Paris, royal Charles of France,

And keep not back your powers in dalliance.

-Duke of Alencon

King Henry the Sixth Part I                          Act V, scene ii      Line 4

There are only 21 lines in this scene. It seems that the plays with the battle scenes are the ones with a lot of very short scenes. This is true of the latter part of Antony and Cleopatra when Augustus Caesar comes to Egypt for the fight. But today’s Totally Random line is not from in Egypt, it’s in France. The French and English are fighting in this play, and in this scene Charles (I’m not sure if he’s king yet, or still prince) of France is discussing the situation with some of his boys and with Joan of Arc. The scene is the plains in Anjou, and the Duke here, is telling Charles to go to Paris and muster up his forces there to fight.

So the past two days we’ve been dealing with battle scenes, or more precisely, people talking about the battles. Yesterday they were discussing the sea battle about to take place, and today they’re talking about mustering the troops in Paris. There are lot of battles fought in Will’s plays. Most of the fighting, though, takes place off stage and we find out what’s happening from the people talking about it or showing up with severed heads. Of course Will had to write it this way because there was only so much he could expect to be able to perform on a stage. I really don’t know how much battling they actually portrayed on the stage. I’m guessing that most of it was limited to a few guys swinging swords around. These were stages, after all, and I’m guessing somewhat primitive special effects. I’ve heard that back in the day the Romans were able to fill the coliseum with water and stage mock sea battles. They weren’t able to do this at the Globe theater and hence you get a lot of people talking about battles, and not so much of them acting out battles.

This is a real Roman Coliseum. It's not the big, famous one in Rome. It's a smaller one in Spain. But it's still Roman. I'll tell you, though, that we didn't see any battles taking place there. Too bad.

       Let the Egyptians

And the Phonecians go a-ducking: we

Have used to conquer, standing on the earth,

And fighting foot to foot.

-Soldier

Antony and Cleopatra                   Act III, scene vii                   Line 63

Well at least we’ve gotten away from the history plays for the day. Although this one’s not too far removed from history, just a different time and place’s history. But I believe it’s classified as a tragedy. Either way, what we have here is another uncredited cast member, this time Soldier, giving Marc Antony the very solid advice to fight on land and not sea. I’m pretty sure that when he says ‘go a-ducking’ he means act like ducks and go out on the water (in boats). I like that: Go a-ducking. Regardless, does Antony listen? Of course not. Does it turn out well for him? Of course not. You know, it’s the little guy, the uncredited guys in life who really do know what the heck they’re talking about a lot of the time. I feel like that little uncredited guy a lot. 

So I googled Marc Antony (the Roman guy, not the play, and not the singer) and of course all I got was results for Marc Antony the singer. I had to use ‘Marc Antony Roman’ to get the guy I was looking for. I was just looking to see how well Will had stuck to history on this one. And he did a pretty good job. Oh I doubt that the uncredited soldier advised Antony to fight on land. But we do know that Antony got his butt kicked in the sea battle. What a maroon!

This is an interesting play, and Will pretty much paints the picture of a fairly manipulative, kind of spoiled brat, woman and a guy who is really obsessed with her and being led by her, and by his own stupidity, to make a lot of bad decisions. I’m not sure exactly what Will was trying to say with this play. Be careful who you fall in love with? That warning could apply to Antony or Cleopatra.

Well anyway, let’s walk away from this one with the thought that you really should give a little bit of a listen to the uncredited guys and gals. Just because they’re not the stars of the show doesn’t mean they don’t know what they’re talking about.

I asked my friend to do his interpretation of the Antony’s forces at the naval battle that ensued. He takes his roles pretty seriously, don’t you think?

Ay, to such mercy as his ruthless arm,

With downright payment, show’d unto my father.

 -Lord Clifford

 King Henry the Sixth Part III                        Act I, scene iii     Line 33

The line before this is Clifford’s buddy Northumberland telling Richard the Duke of York to yield to their mercy. Then Cliff comes out with today’s Totally Random line which tells me that York can’t really expect all that much mercy from Cliff and North. I can’t tell you exactly what York did to Clifford’s father, but I’m guessing he wasn’t too nice to him. On a separate note, that would be a good name for something, maybe a clothing retailer; Cliff & North. There’s some North Cliff stuff, a hotel and whatnot, but no Cliff & North. Anyway…

I think we’ll leave the whole Wars of the Roses thing alone for today. I’m still grappling with all the names and who’s on who’s side. I’ll get there eventually. But we can talk about today’s line without going into anymore context.

First off, pretty good iambic pentameter. But, once again, that word ‘father’ at the end of the second line is the eleventh syllable in the line. We couldn’t maybe end that with ‘dad’? I wonder if Will used ‘dad’, or if that’s a modern word. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for that word. You too. ‘Dad’, be on the lookout.

What else can we pick on? ‘with downright payment’, what do you suppose he means by that? I think we might have to find out specifically what happened when York killed Cliff’s father. That’s not happening this morning, I can tell you that. However, I’ll point out that I’ve gone back to reference previous posts when I subsequently find answers to questions like this. So if I do come up with anything I’ll mention it and try to put in some references ( I guess reference from the future post to this one, and then also come back here and pop in a reference to the future post. Again, if anyone’s out there with some info, now is the time to comment. James?)

Okay, that should do it for today.

These are some cliffs in Svalbard, meaning that they are some of the northernmost cliffs in the world. North Cliff, get it?

If she deny, Lord Hastings, go with him,

And from her jealous arms pluck him

perforce.

-Duke of Buckingham

King Richard the Third                   Act III, scene i    Line 35

Today, not only are we back at Richard III, we’re back in act three, scene one only fifteen lines from where we were last month. In that post (9/10) we were hearing from young Edward V who was entering London, assumedly to be crowned king, and wondering where his mother and brother were. They were hiding, because the mom know what was up with Richard’s plans for her two sons (not good). Well we’ve only slid down fifteen lines and now we hear that Lord Cardinal and Lord Hastings are going to be sent to go get that other brother (apparently they don’t need the boys’ mother, the one with the jealous arms). The two boys, sons of the king who just passed away, are going to be locked in the Tower of London and no one will ever be seeing them again. In fact, there’s quite a few stories, maybe legends, of exactly where these two ended up. Suffice it to say that their gooses got cooked.

So, what’s our take-away from this line? Get the kid and don’t take no for answer and use force against the mother if you need to. And apparently Lord Hastings is the strong arm here. Nice people, huh?

Well I’ve been to this Tower of London place, not inside, but I’ve seen it from the outside. We were in London for a few days and I ended up taking a real long walk, through Hyde Park, past Buckingham Palace and Parliament, over the bridge and past the London Eye, along the south bank of the Thames for a few miles, back across the river on the Tower Bridge, and that got me to the Tower of London. And it’s not a tower, it’s more of a fort. Maybe there’s a tower inside the walls. But I didn’t go inside to pluck any kid from any jealous arms, so I’m not sure if there’s really a tower or not. But I am pretty sure those kids are not there these days. At least that’s what I hear.

I saw this building on the south bank of the Thames on my walk that day. Know what it is?

O day untowardly turn’d!

O mischief strangely thwarting!

O plague right well prevented! So will you say when you have seen the sequel.

-Don Pedro/Claudio/Don John

Much Ado About Nothing                           Act III, scene ii   Line 110

A few disclaimers up front. For one, I still know next to nothing about Much Ado About Nothing. And second, these are three lines spoken in turn by those three guys listed above. I could have stuck with the one Totally Random line, but I thought the sequence was pretty cool, so I gave you three lines. No need to thank me.

Now then, not knowing anything won’t stop me from giving you a little context. Maybe you think it should stop me, but it won’t.

Apparently Don John is the bad guy in this play, but remember, it’s a comedy, so he probably won’t be showing up with any severed heads. And that’s a relief! In any event it turns out that Don John (I can’t help but think of Don Johnson when I say Don John, but I don’t think it’s the same guy) has concocted some scheme where he’s going to make it look like Claudio’s fiancé, Hero, is cheating on him. Yes, that’s right, Claudio’s girlfriend/fiancé is named Hero. But let’s leave that one alone for now. So Don Johnson has told these two (I believe Don Pedro is friends to both of them) that Hero has men sneaking in her bedroom window at night. Unbeknownst to these two guys, Don John (see, I started to type Johnson there) has arranged for someone to be sneaking in the window tonight and he’s just talked these guys into going there tonight to spy on Hero. And today’s Totally Random lines is what each of them says as the scene ender.

Now if you haven’t realized by now, Will’s works (especially the comedies) are chock full of these deception/mistaken scenarios. I think the folks who did the writing for Three’s Company back in the seventies/eighties must have been avid Shakespeareans. But anyway, the line, the line.

So today’s Totally Random line is Claudio. And he’s the one who just found out that the woman he’s supposed to marry is cheating on him. And he say’s O mischief strangely thwarting! That seems like a pretty funny thing to say. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be funny, but maybe it was. This is, after all, a comedy. But it kind of seems like the right thing to say as well. His fiancé cheating on him certainly qualifies as mischief. And apparently he feels that this will thwart their relationship, or the wedding. And strange? Well yeah, if he’s not expecting it you could say it’s strange. So I guess it’s a pretty apt response if you stop and think about it. Right? And a lot more specific to the situation than just ‘Son of a bitch!’ or something like that.

I dunno, but I think this crew could cause some strangely thwarting mischief; especially that little guy in the plaid shirt in the front. I wonder if they’re dressed in that gay apparel ‘gainst the triumph-day? (see 10/4 post)

For in the marches here we heard you were

Making another head to fight again.               

-Earl of Warwick

 

King Henry the Sixth Part III                        Act II, scene i     Line 140

Okay, I give up, I’m going to read/listen (and in some cases re-read/re-listen) to Richard II through Richard III (to be clear, that’s eight plays with all those Henry plays in-between). And I’m going to see, in the process, if it really does cover those two Edwards that sneak in between Henry VI and Richard III. But in any event there’s just too much of the Shakespeare canon that’s tied up in these 8 plays. And it’s all one big story anyway. In the meantime, today’s line…

For now, short tale to make (that’s Will’s way of saying ‘long story short’), this is the Earl of Warwick catching up to Richard and Edward, just after they’ve heard the news of their father’s death in battle. But don’t ask me which Richard or which Edward this is. There are just too many names. And of course they all keep repeating. Generations of Henrys and Richards and Edwards. Ooof! Believe it or not I started to draw my own version of the family tree of Edward III down to Henry VIII. I haven’t quite finished that yet. And I’m giving up on Shakespeare’s Kings for a bit. I’ll get back to it, but I have to give it a rest for a while. When I do I’ll work my way through all these names as I work my way through Richard II to Richard III (and to be very clear, while Henry IV, V, and VI are father, son, and grandson, Richard II is some great uncle or third cousin half removed or something like that to Richard III, but certainly not his father or grandfather). So let’s not worry about who is exactly who for today. Bottom line is that a bunch of guys have come with the Earl to join Edward and Richard and there’s basically a civil war going on in England right now. And in fact, there’s a civil war of sorts going on with this whole history series. Richard II gets supplanted by his first cousin Henry IV. And while the succession runs smoothly for Henry V and VI, that’s pretty much where it ends. Henry VI’s son dies young in battle and once that happens all bets are off. And I’m pretty sure that Henry VI dies here in this play so that by the end of King Henry the Sixth Part III we’re really into Edward IV. And King Richard the Third starts with one of the Edwards as king. Got all that?

Now for the record, it looks like today’s two lines are both pretty much impeccable iambic pentameter. So kudos to Will on that one. And one final note; I thought the ‘here we heard’ part of the line was interesting. Good thing it wasn’t present tense or it would have been ‘here we hear’. That might have sounded a bit awkward. Hey, you gotta look at these things closely. It’s Shakespeare!

This is the name tag I would have these guys wearing on stage with these Henry and Richard plays.