Meravigliosa-Mente (l'angolo della poesia) - VIVA WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE!

BUON SHAKESPEARE DAY!

Oggi, 23 aprile, si celebrano contemporaneamente il giorno di nascita e di morte del grande Bardo inglese che ci ha emozionati e stregati con le sue grandi opere teatrali e i suoi sonetti. E voi come festeggerete? Io mi sono dedicata alla rilettura di alcuni dei miei versi preferiti e in più qualche giorno fa ho visto al cinema l'Amleto con Benedict Cumberbatch nel ruolo eponimo. 

Vi lascio con alcune delle mie citazioni preferite e spezzoni di video, tutti dedicati al caro zio Will ovviamente.

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown"

Henry IV

"I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, 

were it not that I have bad dreams." 

Hamlet

~

"Stars, hide your fires;

Let not light see my black and deep desires."

Macbeth

"Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more"

~

"Cowards die many times before their deaths.

The valiant never taste of death but once."

~

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

Julius Caesar

"Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy!

It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock

The meat it feeds on."

Othello

~

"Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,

 Men were deceivers ever,

 One foot in sea and one on shore,

 To one thing constant never.

 Then sigh not so, but let them go,

 And be you blithe and bonny,

 Converting all your sounds of woe

 Into Hey, nonny nonny.

 Sing no more ditties, sing no mo

 Of dumps so dull and heavy.

 The fraud of men was ever so,

 Since summer first was leavy.

 Then sigh not so, but let them go

 And be you blithe and bonny,

 Converting all your sounds of woe

 Into Hey, nonny nonny." 

Much Ado About Nothing

Ricordo inoltre che oggi si festeggia anche il World Book Day, ovvero la giornata mondiale del libro, quale migliore occasione quindi per leggere le opere dello zio Will?

Qui e Qui invece trovate le mie due recensioni dell'Amleto (Benedict Cumberbatch) e di Macbeth (Michael Fassbender).

Meravigliosa-Mente (l'angolo della poesia) - St. Crispin's Day Speech (Henry V di W. Shakespeare)

Il 25 ottobre del 1415 si svolse presso Agincourt la battaglia che vide scontrarsi le forze di Carlo VI re di Francia contro quelle di Enrico V re d'Inghilterra, la vittoria riportata dagli inglesi, in manifesta inferiorità numerica, è considerata uno dei momenti più luminosi della storia d'Inghilterra. 

Il ricordo della battaglia di Agincourt vive tutt'oggi grazie al dramma storico Henry V scritto dal Bardo William Shakespeare tra il 1598 e il 1599 e in cui si narrano le gesta del giovane e coraggioso re che guidò le truppe inglesi sul campo di battaglia nel giorno di San Crispino, il 25 ottobre appunto. 

Per celebrare la ricorrenza vi lascio le due eccelse interpretazioni del famoso St. Crispin's Day Speech: quella di Kenneth Branagh nell'omonimo film del 1989 e quella di Tom Hiddleston che ha interpretato l'Enrico V per la miniserie BBC The Hollow Crown. 

WESTMORELAND:

O that we now had here

But one ten thousand of those men in England

That do no work to-day!

KING HENRY V:

What's he that wishes so?

My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:

If we are mark'd to die, we are enow

To do our country loss; and if to live,

The fewer men, the greater share of honour.

God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.

By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,

Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;

It yearns me not if men my garments wear;

Such outward things dwell not in my desires:

But if it be a sin to covet honour,

I am the most offending soul alive.

No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:

God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour

As one man more, methinks, would share from me

For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!

Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,

That he which hath no stomach to this fight,

Let him depart; his passport shall be made

And crowns for convoy put into his purse:

We would not die in that man's company

That fears his fellowship to die with us.

This day is called the feast of Crispian:

He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,

Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,

And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

He that shall live this day, and see old age,

Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,

And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'

Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.

And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'

Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,

But he'll remember with advantages

What feats he did that day: then shall our names.

Familiar in his mouth as household words

Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,

Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,

Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.

This story shall the good man teach his son;

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remember'd;

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition:

And gentlemen in England now a-bed

Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Happy St. Crispin's Day!