My Virtual Reading Room

(cross-posting from greatpoetry )
~~
from Cymbeline, Act IV, Scene 2



Fear no more the heat o' the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

Fear no more the frown o' the great;
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke:
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.

Fear no more the lightning-flash,
Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan;
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.



Edit: The verses were set to music and sung by Loreena McKennitt. You can listen to it here.
~~
This was originally posted to the greatpoets comm in October 2010 by stillsparkling over here

Collected over the last month; hope you find something to interest or amuse you :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today in Find the Cat:

https://twitter.com/katehinds/status/1269697161329082370/photo/1

(I must confess that I was not able to find the cat! See if you can ;))

My 17 Illustrations To Reflect On Our Lives During The COVID-19 Pandemic, from TYH Tang Yau Hoon, on Bored Panda

Two articles about Iago's motives in "Othello":

http://leavingcertenglish.net/2014/02/iagos-motivation/

Iago's motives: A Horneyan analysis
~~~

The Nobel Disease: when intelligence fails to protect against irrationality, from The Skeptical Inquirer

The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months, from The Guardian

Tales from the Annals of Medical Quackery, from CBS News

Different types of mask wearers: an illustrated guide, from the talented LB Lee on Dreamwidth

Happy 25th Birthday, Medscape, from Our Founder, from Medscape

A rare blue bee rediscovered in Central Florida, from Florida Insider

A retired Ukrainian general who gave a Skype interview in 2016 and got up while the camera was still on..., from Gordon UA News

Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions in 2014, from Glassdoor

Top Weird Interview Questions, from The Balance Careers

The daughter of a friend's friend plays in this, do take a look and like/comment if you can!

They've a number of other recorded performances on their channel, and plan to post more: Oddsocks Comms

And here's their Much Ado About Nothing!

Part 1:



https://youtu.be/v8VA2MaO7Lg


Part 2:



https://youtu.be/Di0vh12hiDo

by Willy Pogany



and by F. Dicksee

(from The Golden Age of Illustration FB group)

Scientists say they've identified the physical source of depression in the brain, from Science Alert

7 Scandalous Facts About Shakespeare Your English Teacher Will Never Tell You!

Christopher Marlowe has officially been credited as co-author of 3 Shakespearean plays (the three Henry VI plays)

Strange vintage postcards document propaganda against women's rights 100 years ago

These Ridiculous Propaganda Postcards Warn Men About the Dangers of Women’s Rights From the Early 20th Century

Originally posted by thnidu at ars magna

Romeo and Juliet. Tormented lovers driven asunder by the mercurial hands of fate and fortuna.
Parting is indeed such sweet sorrow.
Thank goodness they remembered to exchange email addresses.



Source: http://www.famousinboxes.com/2011/02/romeo-montague/

There are many theories as to quite what drove the Prince of Denmark mad.

The perceived faithlessness of the Queen? His initial lack of courage to revenge his father swiftly and violently?

A dodgy batch of Swedish mushrooms? Too many emails?

(Source: http://www.famousinboxes.com/2011/07/hamlet/)

EDGAR

What, in ill thoughts again? Men must endure
Their going hence even as their coming hither.
Ripeness is all. Come on.

GLOUCESTER
   And that’s true too.

(Shakespeare, King Lear, Act V, Scene 2)

"All other doubts, by time let them be clear'd,
Some boats come to harbor without being steer'd."

(Shakespeare, "Cymbeline")

When I do tell thee, there my hopes lie drown'd,
Reply not in how many fathoms deep
They lie indrench'd.

(Shakespeare, "Troilius and Cressida")

"When valour preys on reason
It eats the sword it fights with."

("Anthony and Cleopatra")

"...When remedies are past, the griefs are ended
By seeing the worst, which late on hope depended.
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next way to draw new mischief on.

What cannot be preserv'd when Fortune takes
Patience her injury a mockery makes.
The robb'd that smiles steals something from the thief;
He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.
....

He bears the sentence well that nothing bears
But the free comfort which from thence he hears;
But he bears both the sentence and the sorrow
That, to pay grief, must of poor patience borrow.
These sentences, to sugar, or to gall,
Being strong on both sides, are equivocal:
But words are words; I never yet did hear
That the bruis'd heart was pierced through the ear."

("Othello")

(From The Penguin Book of Limericks, compiled and edited by E.O. Parrott, with illustrations by Robin Jacques)

[Shakespeare, Hamlet]

Did Ophelia ask Hamlet to bed?
Was Gertrude incestously wed?
Is there anything certain?
By the fall of the curtain
Almost everyone's certainly dead.

(A. Cinna)

Prince Hamlet thought uncle a traitor
For having it off with his Mater;
Revenge Dad or not--
That's the gist of the plot--
And he did--nine soliloquies later.

(Stanley J. Sharpless)

[Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven]

Once a raven from Pluto's dark shore
Brought the singular news: 'Nevermore.'
'Twas of useless avail
To ask further detail,
His reply was the same as before.

(Anthony Euwer)

[William Wordsworth, Intimations of Immortality]

In childhood it's easy to feel
The eternal suffusing the real,
But as the beholder gets steadily older,
It doesn't seem such a big deal.

(Nigel Andrew)

Dancing

(petrusplancius--this is the passage I mentioned)

In polite circles you will be expected to dance and, if you are French or Italian, to do so very well. The Queen herself was, when younger, an excellent and enthusiastic dancer and still loves to watch others dance. According to the French ambassador 'when her Maids dance she follows the cadence with her head, hand and foot. She rebukes them if they do not dance to her liking and without doubt she is mistress of the art, having learnt in the Italian manner.'

Court dances are stately. The grave pavane may be danced even by those well past youth, wearing long gowns and even hats and gloves. The allemande is another processional dance, but in three parts. When the music stops, dancers converse with their partners; each time it starts again it is faster, ending gaily. This is the sort of dance in which the feet never leave the floor and hence is known as a dance basse.

The galliard, cinquepace and coranto are much more lively. The most spectacular is the volta, where the gentleman clasps the lady round the waist and lifts her right off the ground, spinning as he does so. For this dance it is advisable to take off one's sword and cloak to avoid tripping over them. Dances involving running, leaping or lifting are called haute dance.

Country dances, to the simple music of pipe and tabor, are also on occasion seen at Court. In taverns and in London streets and on suburban village greens on holidays, the dances of the common people are joyous jigs and rounds, accompanied among the young by much flirtation and kissing.

(From "Shakespeare's London on 5 groats a day" by Richard Tames)

[you can read the passage on football from the same book over here]

From recent reading, too bad I wasn't reading it during the World Cup, but I thought some people here might still enjoy this ;)
~~
Unknown malefactors to the number of over one hundred assembled themselves unlawfully and played a certain unlawful game called football, by means of which there was amongst them a great affray, likely to result in homicides and serious accident.

(Quarter Sessions Records of the County of Middlesex, 1576)

Football requires a ball and very little else. There are almost no rules. The game is usually played between neighbouring villages, each of whose men try to get the ball back into their home territory. In the capital, contests are usually between the apprentices of London and those of Westminster. Tripping, kicking, and punching opponents all appear to be part of what often seems to the onlooker like a common affray.

The authorities frown on football, which has been repeatedly banned by the monarch, the Lord Mayor and the magistrates, as a threat to public order, a cause of needless injury to Her Majesty's subjects and a distraction from archery practice. The English seem, however, to be addicted to this pastime and disobey all commands to desist from it.

(From "Shakespeare's London on 5 groats a day" by Richard Tames)

A Silly Poem

Said Hamlet to Ophelia,
I'll draw a sketch of thee,
What kind of pencil shall I use?
2B or not 2B?

Spike Milligan (1918 – 2002)

found via poemsdaily

She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.