Well, I couldn't find anything relevant to Rambling Hal, so here's The Grateful Dead live from Philadelphia, July 7, 1989 (that's 21 days after Nina Rose Marie was born) with Ramble On (Nina) Rose.
I suggest you sit back for seven minutes and enjoy it. Really pay attention to it, all of it. Think of it as a meditation. Yes, that's right, today we're focusing on some Dead music instead of some dead Englishman's writing. Enjoy.
Thursday, April 11, 2024
Today’s Totally Random
Lines
How
art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath
To
say to me that thou art out of breath?
Juliet
Romeo and JulietAct II,
Scene iv, Line 32
Well now, it’s hard to argue
with that logic!
It has just occurred to me that there are two levels of pertinence for this pic:
1. That is a bubble gun in my hands (albeit in the shape of a turtle), and if you look close you can see the bubbles. That's why the little munchkin is smiling. So, no breath needed to blow these bubbles; they can be blown even if you're completely out of breath.
2. Note the orange tee shirt I'm wearing and the nice round shape of that oversized belly. Yesterday it was noted by someone close to me that I seemed very out of breath from just walking up one small flight of stairs. Hmmm. Big belly, out of breath.
Big belly needs to go.
Sunday, April 7, 2024
Today’s Totally Random
Lines
Methought
that I had broken from the Tower,
And
was embark to cross to Burgundy;
And,
in my company, my brother Gloster;
Who
from my cabin tempted me to walk
Upon
the hatches: thence we lookt toward England,
And
cited up a thousand heavy times,
During
the wars of York and Lancaster,
That
had befaln us.
Duke of Clarence
King Richard the ThirdAct I,
Scene iv, Line 13
I
was wont to give you the rest of this speech, and if I was a better and faster
typist I well may have. But alas, no. Rather, let me tell you about it. In his
dream his brother accidently pushes him overboard, and Clarence describes, in
wonderful detail, seeing amazing things underwater before drowning. Then he tells
about his experience of crossing into hell and dealing first with his
father-in-law Warwick, who accuses Clarence of getting him killed at the battle
at Tewksbury, and then furies and fiends, who come and overwhelm Clarence before he
finally wakens.
It’s
quite a vividly, terrifying dream. I took the opportunity to listen to this
exchange on my Arkangel Shakespeare this morning. It’s about a half page long, if you’re
interested in reading it. Here it is.
You
have to read from the beginning of the scene up to line 60 or so to get the
whole dream. Sixty lines. You can do it.
So,
a few personal thoughts. One is that I, coincidentally had a very vivid dream
last night that stayed with me. It was nonsensical, mostly with unknown people
and places, but it stuck with me after waking. Because it was so nonsensical I
won’t try to describe it. I only bring it up because it seems so coincidental
that today’s line would be about a vivid dream.
The
other thing that struck me in today’s line was Clarence’s lines about looking
back toward England and thinking about the thousand heavy times,/ During the wars
of York and Lancaster,/ That had befaln us.The thousand heavy times. Exactly. And what good came of it. I’m
waiting. What good became of those thousand heavy times of war. Exactly:
Nothing.
So
what’s changed since Will wrote these lines. We’re still experiencing vivid
dreams, and we’re still experiencing the heavy times of war. Oh sure, when I
talk about the latter I’m talking about the world at large, not Cheshire
Connecticut. But it’s all the same.
I
guess this is one of the reasons I read Shakespeare and one of the reasons I
find it so relevant.
But enough about dreams.
Doesn't someone have a birthday today?
Saturday, April 6, 2024
Today’s Totally Random
Lines
I
say, we will have no more marriages; those that are married already, all but one, shall live; the rest shall keep as they
are.
Hamlet
Hamlet Act III, Scene i, Line 150
Yes,
Hamlet. This is the famous scene (heck, most of the scenes in this play are
famous) that begins with the To be, or not to be soliloquy and
then goes into Hamlet talking to Ophelia whilst Claudius and Polonius
eavesdrop.
Now the thing is, most of this conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia is steeped in nuance, double-entendres, and you-name-it's. In other words, Good luck trying to understand it!
Okay, I’ve come to a conclusion, I’m not smart enough to appreciate much of
Shakespeare. Yes, I said it; but hear me out.
I started reading Harold Goddard’s The
Meaning of Shakespeare recently. I’ve got three of these kind of books:
Goddard, Harold Bloom, and Marjorie Garber. Each of them begins by talking
about Will and his writing and then goes into discussing the plays one by one.
Each of the three authors discusses the plays in, more or less, chronological
order, with the goal of showing not only how the plays are related, but how
Will progresses in his writing career. Each of the authors considers Will a
genius.
I have yet, and probably never will, read any of these books in entirety, end
to end. Generally, I’ll read the chapter on one particular play or another, or
maybe the chapter on one play in each of the three books; and even that can be
a struggle.
The problem is that as I read, it feels like each of these authors knows every
line of every play by heart. As such, they are able to understand and interpret
each little nuance to a degree impossible to a mere mortal like me. It almost
feels, sometimes, like I’m trying to understand a paper written by a chemist.
Even if I had a basic understanding of chemistry and the periodic table (which
I don’t), I’m not going to be able to understand a paper written by a chemist
who is intimately familiar with all, or most, of the laws of chemistry and how
they relate to each other. Capeesh?
So, what to do? Yes, what to do?
Well, I have thought that my blog is a good alternative to the
Harolds and Marjorie for this exact reason. It’s written by a mere mortal, me,
who does not have this superhuman understanding of Will’s works. I probably
have a bit more knowledge of his works than the average human, but probably no
more than the average bardophile. And because of that, my blog is more
understandable (and relatable?). Certainly it would be much too simple to
interest the aforementioned trio (two of which are dead anyway, and I doubt the third one cares much about my blog), but perhaps
not too simple for the average high school English teacher or garden variety
bardophile; maybe even a total Shakespeare neophyte or two, like Ron or Mike.
And
so, that’s how it be, or not be.
Pete reading Harold Goddard: Ummmm....
Friday, March 29, 2024
Today’s Totally Random
Lines
The spirits that know
All
mortal consequences have pronounced me thus,
‘Fear
not, Macbeth; no man that’s born of woman
Shall
e’er have power upon thee.’—Then fly, false thanes,
And
mingle with the English epicures:
The
mind I sway by and the heart I bear
Shall
never sag with doubt nor shake with fear.
Macbeth
MacbethAct V,
Scene iii, Line 8
One
with sensitive and discriminating tastes, especially in food or wine.
One
devoted to sensual pleasure.
Those are the two definitions of epicure
from MW online. The first is the modern definition and the latter is archaic. You
can sort of see how one begot the other, but it’s more the archaic version that
Macbeth is using here.
We’re near the end of the play and
things are starting to turn bad for Macbeth, but he remains defiant. After all,
the witches who know all have told him that no man can kill him. Right?
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Today’s Totally Random
Lines
And,
as he drinks his draughts of Rhenish down,
The
kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out
The
triumph of his pledge.
Hamlet
HamletAct I, Scene iv, Line 10
…the
king is feasting and every time he drinks, trumpets, drums, and cannon make
their joyful noise in celebration.
There, instead of Pete’s version I gave
you Isaac’s version this morning. So that’s right, every time the king drinks
there is a musical salute with a cannon. It sounds a bit much, doesn’t it; sort
of like a backwards drinking game. Instead of drinking every time something
happens, something (in this case a musical and cannon salute) happens every time he drinks. I
guess it’s great to be king. Sort of.
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Today’s Totally Random
Lines
I
shall do’t, my lord.
Sir Thomas Erpingham
King Henry the FifthAct V, Scene i, Line 292
That’s a pretty long name: Sir
Thomas Erpingham. I don’t recall ever running into this fellow before, but it
looks like we've visited this page twice previously, so…In any event, he sounds like a solid guy. I
shall do’t, my lord. It’s a no-nonsense reply to the king who has told Sir
Thomas to gather all the nobles and meet them at his tent. So, Mr. No-Nonsense Sir
Thomas is now Mr. Errand-Boy. He has to go around the camp and gather up all
the nobles to meet at the king’s tent. I guess I should say Sir Errand Boy.
Either way, I feel pretty certain that he’ll get the job done.
Good ‘ol Sir Thomas Errand-Boy
Erpingham.
Well, I've got nothing further on Sir Thomas Erpingham, but I do have something on this little cutie; she's forty-two years old today! That's right, and just as cute as she was thirty or so years ago.