Plot Overview
Lear, the aging king of Britain, decides to step down from the throne and divide his kingdom evenly among his three daughters. First, however, he puts his daughters through a test, asking each to tell him how much she loves him. Goneril and Regan, Lear’s older daughters, give their father flattering answers. But Cordelia, Lear’s youngest and favorite daughter, remains silent, saying that she has no words to describe how much she loves her father. Lear flies into a rage and disowns Cordelia. The king of France, who has courted Cordelia, says that he still wants to marry her even without her land, and she accompanies him to France without her father’s blessing.
Lear quickly learns that he made a bad decision. Goneril and Regan swiftly begin to undermine the little authority that Lear still holds. Unable to believe that his beloved daughters are betraying him, Lear slowly goes insane. He flees his daughters’ houses to wander on a heath during a great thunderstorm, accompanied by his Fool and by Kent, a loyal nobleman in disguise.
Meanwhile, an elderly nobleman named Gloucester also experiences family problems. His illegitimate son, Edmund, tricks him into believing that his legitimate son, Edgar, is trying to kill him. Fleeing the manhunt that his father has set for him, Edgar disguises himself as a crazy beggar and calls himself “Poor Tom.” Like Lear, he heads out onto the heath.
When the loyal Gloucester realizes that Lear’s daughters have turned against their father, he decides to help Lear in spite of the danger. Regan and her husband, Cornwall, discover him helping Lear, accuse him of treason, blind him, and turn him out to wander the countryside. He ends up being led by his disguised son, Edgar, toward the city of Dover, where Lear has also been brought.
In Dover, a French army lands as part of an invasion led by Cordelia in an effort to save her father. Edmund apparently becomes romantically entangled with both Goneril and Regan, whose husband, Albany, is increasingly sympathetic to Lear’s cause. Goneril and Edmund conspire to kill Albany.
The despairing Gloucester tries to commit suicide, but Edgar saves him by pulling the strange trick of leading him off an imaginary cliff. Meanwhile, the English troops reach Dover, and the English, led by Edmund, defeat the Cordelia-led French. Lear and Cordelia are captured. In the climactic scene, Edgar duels with and kills Edmund; we learn of the death of Gloucester; Goneril poisons Regan out of jealousy over Edmund and then kills herself when her treachery is revealed to Albany; Edmund’s betrayal of Cordelia leads to her needless execution in prison; and Lear finally dies out of grief at Cordelia’s passing. Albany, Edgar, and the elderly Kent are left to take care of the country under a cloud of sorrow and regret.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
154
The first 17 sonnets are written to a young man, urging him to marry and have children, thereby passing down his beauty to the next generation. These are called the procreation sonnets. Most of them, however, 18-126, are addressed to a young man expressing the poet's love for him. Sonnets 127-152 are written to the poet's mistress expressing his love for her. The final two sonnets, 153-154, are allegorical. The final thirty or so sonnets are written about a number of issues, such as the young man's infidelity with the poet's mistress, self-resolution to control his own lust, criticism of the world, etc.
STRUCTURE
The sonnets are each constructed from three four-line stanzas (called quatrains) and a final couplet composed in iambic pentameter[5] (a meter used extensively in Shakespeare's plays) with the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg (this form is now known as the Shakespearean sonnet).
CHARACTERS
Most of the sonnets are addressed to a beautiful young man, a rival poet, and a dark-haired lady. Readers of the sonnets today commonly refer to these characters as the Fair Youth, the Rival Poet, and the Dark Lady. The narrator expresses admiration for the Fair Youth's beauty, and later has an affair with the Dark Lady. It is not known whether the poems and their characters are fiction or autobiographical. If they are autobiographical, the identities of the characters are open to debate.
THE 'FAIR YOUTH' is an unnamed young man to whom sonnets 1-126 are addressed. The poet writes of the young man in romantic and loving language, a fact which has led several commentators to suggest a homosexual relationship between them, while others read it as platonic love. There have been many attempts to identify the Friend. Shakespeare's one-time patron, the Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton is the most commonly suggested candidate, although Shakespeare's later patron, William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, has recently become popular.
THE DARK LADY
Sonnets 127-152 are addressed to a woman commonly known as the 'Dark Lady' because her hair is said to be black and her skin "dun". These sonnets are explicitly sexual in character, in contrast to those written to the "Fair Youth". It is implied that the speaker of the sonnets and the Lady had a passionate affair, but that she was unfaithful, perhaps with the "Fair Youth". The poet self-deprecatingly describes himself as balding and middle-aged at the time of writing.
THE RIVAL POET
The Rival Poet is sometimes identified with Christopher Marlowe or George Chapman. However, there is no hard evidence that the character had a real-life counterpart. The Poet sees the Rival as competition for fame and patronage. The sonnets most commonly identified as The Rival Poet group exist within the Fair Youth series in sonnets 78-86 .
154
The first 17 sonnets are written to a young man, urging him to marry and have children, thereby passing down his beauty to the next generation. These are called the procreation sonnets. Most of them, however, 18-126, are addressed to a young man expressing the poet's love for him. Sonnets 127-152 are written to the poet's mistress expressing his love for her. The final two sonnets, 153-154, are allegorical. The final thirty or so sonnets are written about a number of issues, such as the young man's infidelity with the poet's mistress, self-resolution to control his own lust, criticism of the world, etc.
STRUCTURE
The sonnets are each constructed from three four-line stanzas (called quatrains) and a final couplet composed in iambic pentameter[5] (a meter used extensively in Shakespeare's plays) with the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg (this form is now known as the Shakespearean sonnet).
CHARACTERS
Most of the sonnets are addressed to a beautiful young man, a rival poet, and a dark-haired lady. Readers of the sonnets today commonly refer to these characters as the Fair Youth, the Rival Poet, and the Dark Lady. The narrator expresses admiration for the Fair Youth's beauty, and later has an affair with the Dark Lady. It is not known whether the poems and their characters are fiction or autobiographical. If they are autobiographical, the identities of the characters are open to debate.
THE 'FAIR YOUTH' is an unnamed young man to whom sonnets 1-126 are addressed. The poet writes of the young man in romantic and loving language, a fact which has led several commentators to suggest a homosexual relationship between them, while others read it as platonic love. There have been many attempts to identify the Friend. Shakespeare's one-time patron, the Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton is the most commonly suggested candidate, although Shakespeare's later patron, William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, has recently become popular.
THE DARK LADY
Sonnets 127-152 are addressed to a woman commonly known as the 'Dark Lady' because her hair is said to be black and her skin "dun". These sonnets are explicitly sexual in character, in contrast to those written to the "Fair Youth". It is implied that the speaker of the sonnets and the Lady had a passionate affair, but that she was unfaithful, perhaps with the "Fair Youth". The poet self-deprecatingly describes himself as balding and middle-aged at the time of writing.
THE RIVAL POET
The Rival Poet is sometimes identified with Christopher Marlowe or George Chapman. However, there is no hard evidence that the character had a real-life counterpart. The Poet sees the Rival as competition for fame and patronage. The sonnets most commonly identified as The Rival Poet group exist within the Fair Youth series in sonnets 78-86 .
SHAKESPEARE'S LIFE
Shakespeare (1564-1616): Who was he?
Though William Shakespeare is recognized as one of literature’s greatest influences, very little is actually known about him. What we do know about his life comes from registrar records, court records, wills, marriage certificates and his tombstone. Anecdotes and criticisms by his rivals also speak of the famous playwright and suggest that he was indeed a playwright, poet and an actor.
Date of Birth? (1564)
William was born in 1564. We know this from the earliest record we have of his life; his baptism which happened on Wednesday, April the 26th, 1564. We don’t actually know his birthday but from this record we assume he was born in 1564. Similarly by knowing the famous Bard's baptism date, we can guess that he was born three days earlier on St. George’s day, though we have no conclusive proof of this.
Brothers and Sisters.
William was the third child of John and Mary Shakespeare. The first two were daughters.
William's Father.
From baptism records, we know William's father was a John Shakespeare, said to be a town official of Stratford and a local businessman who was working with white leather to make items like purses and gloves. John also dealt in grain.
William's mother: Mary Arden.
William's mother was Mary Arden who married John Shakespeare in 1557. The youngest daughter in her family, she inherited much of her father’s landowning and farming estate when he died.
The Bard's Education.
Very little is known about literature’s most famous playwright. We know that the King’s New Grammar School taught boys basic reading and writing. We assume William attended this school since it existed to educate the sons of Stratford but we have no definite proof. Likewise a lack of evidence suggests that William, whose works are studied universally at Universities, never attended one himself!
William marries an older woman. (1582)
A bond certificate dated November the 28th, 1582, reveals that an eighteen year old William married the twenty-six and pregnant Anne Hathaway. Barely seven months later, they had his first daughter, Susanna. Anne never left Stratford, living there her entire life.
The Bard's children. (1583 & 1592)
Baptism records show that William’s first child, Susanna was baptized in Stratford sometime in May, 1583. Baptism records again reveal that twins Hamnet and Judith were born in February 1592. Hamnet, William's only son died in 1596, just eleven years old.
The Bard suffers breech of copyright. (1609)
In 1609, the Bard's sonnets were published without the Bard’s permission. It is considered unlikely that William wanted many of his deeply personal poems to be revealed to the outside world. It was not however the first time; in 1599, in a collection entitled "The Passionate Pilgrim" , two of his poems had been printed without William’s permission.
The Bard's lost years?
Looking for work in London, just four days ride way from Stratford, William is believed to have left his family back home for some twenty years whilst he pursued his craft. He only returned back to his family in 1609, having visited only during the forty day period of Lent when theatres though open well into the start of Lent would later close in accordance with the traditional banning of all forms of diversionary entertainment around this important Easter event.
William applies for a Coat of Arms. (1596)
Records with the College of Heralds, reveal William applied for a coat of arms. Despite a lack of proof, he was granted his request. Later in 1599 he applied for his mother’s coat of arms to be added to his own.
William buys major residential property. (1597)
At age 15, William purchased the New Place. This was one of the most prominent and desired properties in all of Stratford being the second largest house in town. Given his father's known financial hardship from 1576, William must either have used his own money to buy this expensive property or his father had placed money in his son’s name. It is possible William might have bought this prominent property with money from his plays. It is estimated that roughly fifteen of his 37 plays would have been written and performed by 1597!
Will flats in London. (Circa 1601-1604)
Court records of a dispute between William's landlord Christopher Mountjoy and his son-in-law Stephen Belott confirm that William was living in London around 1601. The playwright's name is recorded in the court records when he gave testimony in 1612 concerning Mountjoy and Belott’s dispute. Interestingly, in 1601, he bought roughly 107 acres of arable land with twenty acres of pasturage for 20 pounds in Old Stratford.
The Bard strikes it rich.
William made his greatest financial gain in 1605 when he purchased leases of real estate near Stratford. This investment of some four hundred and forty pounds doubled in value and earned him 60 pounds income each year. Some academics speculate that this investment gave the Bard the time he needed to write plays uninterrupted and we know that he was indeed thought of as a businessman in the Stratford area...
A friend passes away.
Yet another record confirming the Bard's existence was John Comb’s will which bequeathed to the Bard the princely sum of just five pounds.
The Bard's will and death.
Records reveal that the great Bard revised his will on March the 25th, 1616. Less than a month later, he died on April the 23rd, 1616. Literature's famous Bard is buried at the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. He infamously left his second-best bed to his wife Anne Hathaway and little else, giving most of his estate to his eldest daughter Susanna who has married a prominent and distinguished physician named John Hall in June 1607. This was not as callous as it seems; the Bard's best bed was for guests; his second-best bed was his marriage bed... His will also named actors Richard Burbage, Henry Condell and John Hemminges, providing proof to academics today that William was involved in theatre. The Bard's direct line of descendants ended some 54 years later until Susanna’s daughter Elizabeth died in 1670.
Though William Shakespeare is recognized as one of literature’s greatest influences, very little is actually known about him. What we do know about his life comes from registrar records, court records, wills, marriage certificates and his tombstone. Anecdotes and criticisms by his rivals also speak of the famous playwright and suggest that he was indeed a playwright, poet and an actor.
Date of Birth? (1564)
William was born in 1564. We know this from the earliest record we have of his life; his baptism which happened on Wednesday, April the 26th, 1564. We don’t actually know his birthday but from this record we assume he was born in 1564. Similarly by knowing the famous Bard's baptism date, we can guess that he was born three days earlier on St. George’s day, though we have no conclusive proof of this.
Brothers and Sisters.
William was the third child of John and Mary Shakespeare. The first two were daughters.
William's Father.
From baptism records, we know William's father was a John Shakespeare, said to be a town official of Stratford and a local businessman who was working with white leather to make items like purses and gloves. John also dealt in grain.
William's mother: Mary Arden.
William's mother was Mary Arden who married John Shakespeare in 1557. The youngest daughter in her family, she inherited much of her father’s landowning and farming estate when he died.
The Bard's Education.
Very little is known about literature’s most famous playwright. We know that the King’s New Grammar School taught boys basic reading and writing. We assume William attended this school since it existed to educate the sons of Stratford but we have no definite proof. Likewise a lack of evidence suggests that William, whose works are studied universally at Universities, never attended one himself!
William marries an older woman. (1582)
A bond certificate dated November the 28th, 1582, reveals that an eighteen year old William married the twenty-six and pregnant Anne Hathaway. Barely seven months later, they had his first daughter, Susanna. Anne never left Stratford, living there her entire life.
The Bard's children. (1583 & 1592)
Baptism records show that William’s first child, Susanna was baptized in Stratford sometime in May, 1583. Baptism records again reveal that twins Hamnet and Judith were born in February 1592. Hamnet, William's only son died in 1596, just eleven years old.
The Bard suffers breech of copyright. (1609)
In 1609, the Bard's sonnets were published without the Bard’s permission. It is considered unlikely that William wanted many of his deeply personal poems to be revealed to the outside world. It was not however the first time; in 1599, in a collection entitled "The Passionate Pilgrim" , two of his poems had been printed without William’s permission.
The Bard's lost years?
Looking for work in London, just four days ride way from Stratford, William is believed to have left his family back home for some twenty years whilst he pursued his craft. He only returned back to his family in 1609, having visited only during the forty day period of Lent when theatres though open well into the start of Lent would later close in accordance with the traditional banning of all forms of diversionary entertainment around this important Easter event.
William applies for a Coat of Arms. (1596)
Records with the College of Heralds, reveal William applied for a coat of arms. Despite a lack of proof, he was granted his request. Later in 1599 he applied for his mother’s coat of arms to be added to his own.
William buys major residential property. (1597)
At age 15, William purchased the New Place. This was one of the most prominent and desired properties in all of Stratford being the second largest house in town. Given his father's known financial hardship from 1576, William must either have used his own money to buy this expensive property or his father had placed money in his son’s name. It is possible William might have bought this prominent property with money from his plays. It is estimated that roughly fifteen of his 37 plays would have been written and performed by 1597!
Will flats in London. (Circa 1601-1604)
Court records of a dispute between William's landlord Christopher Mountjoy and his son-in-law Stephen Belott confirm that William was living in London around 1601. The playwright's name is recorded in the court records when he gave testimony in 1612 concerning Mountjoy and Belott’s dispute. Interestingly, in 1601, he bought roughly 107 acres of arable land with twenty acres of pasturage for 20 pounds in Old Stratford.
The Bard strikes it rich.
William made his greatest financial gain in 1605 when he purchased leases of real estate near Stratford. This investment of some four hundred and forty pounds doubled in value and earned him 60 pounds income each year. Some academics speculate that this investment gave the Bard the time he needed to write plays uninterrupted and we know that he was indeed thought of as a businessman in the Stratford area...
A friend passes away.
Yet another record confirming the Bard's existence was John Comb’s will which bequeathed to the Bard the princely sum of just five pounds.
The Bard's will and death.
Records reveal that the great Bard revised his will on March the 25th, 1616. Less than a month later, he died on April the 23rd, 1616. Literature's famous Bard is buried at the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. He infamously left his second-best bed to his wife Anne Hathaway and little else, giving most of his estate to his eldest daughter Susanna who has married a prominent and distinguished physician named John Hall in June 1607. This was not as callous as it seems; the Bard's best bed was for guests; his second-best bed was his marriage bed... His will also named actors Richard Burbage, Henry Condell and John Hemminges, providing proof to academics today that William was involved in theatre. The Bard's direct line of descendants ended some 54 years later until Susanna’s daughter Elizabeth died in 1670.
SHAKESPEARE'S PLACE AND INFLUENCE
Shakespeare's Place and Influence.
Shakespeare holds, by general acclamation, the foremost place in the world's literature, and his overwhelming greatness renders it difficult to criticise or even to praise him. Two poets only, Homer and Dante, have been named with him; but each of these wrote within narrow limits, while Shakespeare's genius included all the world of nature and of men. In a word, he is the universal poet. To study nature in his works is like exploring a new and beautiful country; to study man in his works is like going into a great city, viewing the motley crowd as one views a great masquerade in which past and present mingle freely and familiarly, as if the dead were all living again. And the marvelous thing, in this masquerade of all sorts and conditions of men, is that Shakespeare lifts the mask from every face, lets us see the man as he is in his own soul, and shows us in each one some germ of good, some "soul of goodness" even in things evil. For Shakespeare strikes no uncertain note, and raises no doubts to add to the burden of your own. Good always overcomes evil in the long run; and love, faith, work, and duty are the four elements that in all ages make the world right. To criticise or praise the genius that creates these men and women is to criticise or praise humanity itself.
Of his influence in literature it is equally difficult to speak. Goethe expresses the common literary judgment when he says, "I do not remember that any book or person or event in my life ever made so great an impression upon me as the plays of Shakespeare." His influence upon our own language and thought is beyond calculation. Shakespeare and the King James Bible are the two great conservators of the English speech; and one who habitually reads them finds himself possessed of a style and vocabulary that are beyond criticism. Even those who read no Shakespeare are still unconsciously guided by him, for his thought and expression have so pervaded our life and literature that it is impossible, so long as one speaks the English language, to escape his influence.
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, "This was a man!"
Shakespeare holds, by general acclamation, the foremost place in the world's literature, and his overwhelming greatness renders it difficult to criticise or even to praise him. Two poets only, Homer and Dante, have been named with him; but each of these wrote within narrow limits, while Shakespeare's genius included all the world of nature and of men. In a word, he is the universal poet. To study nature in his works is like exploring a new and beautiful country; to study man in his works is like going into a great city, viewing the motley crowd as one views a great masquerade in which past and present mingle freely and familiarly, as if the dead were all living again. And the marvelous thing, in this masquerade of all sorts and conditions of men, is that Shakespeare lifts the mask from every face, lets us see the man as he is in his own soul, and shows us in each one some germ of good, some "soul of goodness" even in things evil. For Shakespeare strikes no uncertain note, and raises no doubts to add to the burden of your own. Good always overcomes evil in the long run; and love, faith, work, and duty are the four elements that in all ages make the world right. To criticise or praise the genius that creates these men and women is to criticise or praise humanity itself.
Of his influence in literature it is equally difficult to speak. Goethe expresses the common literary judgment when he says, "I do not remember that any book or person or event in my life ever made so great an impression upon me as the plays of Shakespeare." His influence upon our own language and thought is beyond calculation. Shakespeare and the King James Bible are the two great conservators of the English speech; and one who habitually reads them finds himself possessed of a style and vocabulary that are beyond criticism. Even those who read no Shakespeare are still unconsciously guided by him, for his thought and expression have so pervaded our life and literature that it is impossible, so long as one speaks the English language, to escape his influence.
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, "This was a man!"
Sonnet 116
Shakespeare Sonnet 116
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
William Shakespeare
(1564 - 1616)
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
William Shakespeare
(1564 - 1616)
Monday, February 11, 2008
The PARDONER
THE PARDONER (from the General Prologue)
This Pardoner had hair as yellow as wax,
Hanging down smoothly like a hank(гранка от прежда) of flax(лен).
In driblets (капка) fell his locks behind his head
Down to his shoulders which they overspread;
He aimed at riding in the latest mode;
But for a little cap his head was bare
And he had bulging(изпъкнали) eye-balls, like a hare.
His wallet lay before him on his lap,
Brimful(пълен до горе) of pardons come from Rome, all hot.
He had the same small voice a goat has got.
His chin no beard had harboured(приютявам), nor would harbour,
Smoother than ever chin was left by barber.
I judge he was a gelding(скопен кон), or a mare (кобила).
There was no pardoner of equal grace,
For in his trunk he had a pillow-case
Which he asserted was Our Lady’s (Света Богородица) veil.
He had a cross of metal set with stones
And with these relics, any time he found
Some poor up-country parson to astound (смайвам),
in one short day, in money down,he drew
more than the parson in a month or two,
And by his flatteries(ласкателства) and prevarication (извъртане,уклончиво поведение)
Made monkeys of the priest and congregation(паство).
But still to do him justice first and last
In church he was a noble ecclesiast(свещеник,църковно лице),
How well he read a lesson or a story!
But best of all he sang an Offertory,
For all he knew that when the song was sung
He’d have to preach and tune his honey-tongue
And(well he could) win silver from the crowd
That’s why he sang so merrily and loud.
This Pardoner had hair as yellow as wax,
Hanging down smoothly like a hank(гранка от прежда) of flax(лен).
In driblets (капка) fell his locks behind his head
Down to his shoulders which they overspread;
He aimed at riding in the latest mode;
But for a little cap his head was bare
And he had bulging(изпъкнали) eye-balls, like a hare.
His wallet lay before him on his lap,
Brimful(пълен до горе) of pardons come from Rome, all hot.
He had the same small voice a goat has got.
His chin no beard had harboured(приютявам), nor would harbour,
Smoother than ever chin was left by barber.
I judge he was a gelding(скопен кон), or a mare (кобила).
There was no pardoner of equal grace,
For in his trunk he had a pillow-case
Which he asserted was Our Lady’s (Света Богородица) veil.
He had a cross of metal set with stones
And with these relics, any time he found
Some poor up-country parson to astound (смайвам),
in one short day, in money down,he drew
more than the parson in a month or two,
And by his flatteries(ласкателства) and prevarication (извъртане,уклончиво поведение)
Made monkeys of the priest and congregation(паство).
But still to do him justice first and last
In church he was a noble ecclesiast(свещеник,църковно лице),
How well he read a lesson or a story!
But best of all he sang an Offertory,
For all he knew that when the song was sung
He’d have to preach and tune his honey-tongue
And(well he could) win silver from the crowd
That’s why he sang so merrily and loud.
The FRIAR
There was a FRIAR,a wanton one and merry,
a Limiter,a very festive fellow.
So glib( словоохотлив talkative)with gallant phrase and well turned speech
Therefore instead of weeping and of prayer
one should give silver for the poor Friar's care.
And certainly his voice was gay and sturdy( strong robust)
For he sang well and played the hurdy-gurdy.
His neck was whiter than a lily-flower
but strong enough to butt(блъскам с глава)a bruiser(боксьор борец)down
He knew the taverns well in every town
And every innkeeper and barmaid too
better than beggars,lepers (прокажен) and that crew
For in so eminent( distinguished prominent) a man as he,
It was not fitting with the dignity
of his position,dealing with a scum( измет)
of wretched lepers;nothing good can come
of dealings with the slum (бедняшки квартал)-and-gutter dwellers,
but only with the rich and victual-sellers(провизии).
But anywhere a profit might accrue(падам се)
Courteous he was and lowly (скромен) of service too
For though a widow mightn't have a shoe
So pleasant was his holy how-d'ye-do
He got his farthing(монета-1/4 пени) from her just the same.
He lisped(фъфля) a little out of wantonness(каприз)
To make his English sweet upon his tongue
His eyes would twinkle in his head as bright
as do the stars on any frosty night.
a Limiter,a very festive fellow.
So glib( словоохотлив talkative)with gallant phrase and well turned speech
Therefore instead of weeping and of prayer
one should give silver for the poor Friar's care.
And certainly his voice was gay and sturdy( strong robust)
For he sang well and played the hurdy-gurdy.
His neck was whiter than a lily-flower
but strong enough to butt(блъскам с глава)a bruiser(боксьор борец)down
He knew the taverns well in every town
And every innkeeper and barmaid too
better than beggars,lepers (прокажен) and that crew
For in so eminent( distinguished prominent) a man as he,
It was not fitting with the dignity
of his position,dealing with a scum( измет)
of wretched lepers;nothing good can come
of dealings with the slum (бедняшки квартал)-and-gutter dwellers,
but only with the rich and victual-sellers(провизии).
But anywhere a profit might accrue(падам се)
Courteous he was and lowly (скромен) of service too
For though a widow mightn't have a shoe
So pleasant was his holy how-d'ye-do
He got his farthing(монета-1/4 пени) from her just the same.
He lisped(фъфля) a little out of wantonness(каприз)
To make his English sweet upon his tongue
His eyes would twinkle in his head as bright
as do the stars on any frosty night.
The NUN
There also was a NUN,a Prioress,
whose way of smiling simple was and coy(свенлив скромен),
Her greatest oath( curse) was only "By St.Loy!"
And she spoke daintily( изискан) in French,extremely,
After the school of Stratford-at-the-Bow;
French in the Paris style she did not know
At meat her manners were well-taught withal( освен това)
no morsel( хапка) from her lips did she let fall
She certainly was very entertaining,
pleasant and friendly in her ways,and straining
to counterfeit(подправям преструвам се)a courtly kind of
grace
She used to weep if she but saw a mouse caught in a trap
And she had little dogs she would be feeding
with roasted flesh,or milk,or fine white bread
and bitterly she wept if one were dead
She was all sentiment and tender heart
Her nose was elegant,her eyes glass-grey
Her mouth was very small,but soft and red
She wore a coral trinket( дрънкулка) on each arm,
a set of beads,the gaudies(ярък безвкусен) tricked in green,
whence hung a golden brooch of brightest sheen(блясък
лъскавина)
on which there first was graven(гравиран) a crowned A,
And lower,Amor Vincit Omnia(Love conquers all)
whose way of smiling simple was and coy(свенлив скромен),
Her greatest oath( curse) was only "By St.Loy!"
And she spoke daintily( изискан) in French,extremely,
After the school of Stratford-at-the-Bow;
French in the Paris style she did not know
At meat her manners were well-taught withal( освен това)
no morsel( хапка) from her lips did she let fall
She certainly was very entertaining,
pleasant and friendly in her ways,and straining
to counterfeit(подправям преструвам се)a courtly kind of
grace
She used to weep if she but saw a mouse caught in a trap
And she had little dogs she would be feeding
with roasted flesh,or milk,or fine white bread
and bitterly she wept if one were dead
She was all sentiment and tender heart
Her nose was elegant,her eyes glass-grey
Her mouth was very small,but soft and red
She wore a coral trinket( дрънкулка) on each arm,
a set of beads,the gaudies(ярък безвкусен) tricked in green,
whence hung a golden brooch of brightest sheen(блясък
лъскавина)
on which there first was graven(гравиран) a crowned A,
And lower,Amor Vincit Omnia(Love conquers all)
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Chaucer's Prologue with Pronunciation
Pronunciation Help
First 18 lines of the General Prologue
Whan that Aprille with his shoores soote
Wan thot A'prill with his sure-es so-tuh
The drought of March hath perced to the roote
The drewgt of March hath pear-said to the row-tuh
And bathed every vein in swich liquor
And ba-thed every vane in sweech lee-coor
Of which vertu engendred is the flour
of wheech ver-too en-jen-dred is the flu-er
When Zephyrus eek with his sweete breeth
When Zeph-er-us ache with his sway-tuh breath
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
In-spear-ed hath in every holt and heth
The tendre croppes and the yonge sun
The tawn-dray crop-pays and the young-gay soan
Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne
Hath in the rahm his hall-vey coors e-rown
And smale fowles maken melodye
And smal-ay foe-lays mock-en mel-oh-dee-uh
That slepen all the night with open eye
That slep-en all the neekdt with open ee-ah
So priketh hem nature in hir courages
So prick-eth him nah-tour in hear core-ahj-ez
Thanne longen folke to goon pilgrimages
Thah-nay lon-gen folk to goen-on pilgrim-ahj-ez
And palmeres for to seeken stronge straundes
And palm-ers for to sake-en stroan-jay stroan-days
To ferne halwes couth in sondry londes
To fair-nay hallways kouth in soan-dray loan-days
And specially from every shires ende
And specially from every shear-ez end-uh
Of Engelond to Canterbury they wende
Of Eng-gal-ond to Khan-ter-bury they wend-uh
The hooly blissful martyr for to seeke
The holy blissful martyr for to sake-uh
That hem hath holpen whan that they were sike
That hem hath holp-en whan that they were seek-uh
First 18 lines of the General Prologue
Whan that Aprille with his shoores soote
Wan thot A'prill with his sure-es so-tuh
The drought of March hath perced to the roote
The drewgt of March hath pear-said to the row-tuh
And bathed every vein in swich liquor
And ba-thed every vane in sweech lee-coor
Of which vertu engendred is the flour
of wheech ver-too en-jen-dred is the flu-er
When Zephyrus eek with his sweete breeth
When Zeph-er-us ache with his sway-tuh breath
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
In-spear-ed hath in every holt and heth
The tendre croppes and the yonge sun
The tawn-dray crop-pays and the young-gay soan
Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne
Hath in the rahm his hall-vey coors e-rown
And smale fowles maken melodye
And smal-ay foe-lays mock-en mel-oh-dee-uh
That slepen all the night with open eye
That slep-en all the neekdt with open ee-ah
So priketh hem nature in hir courages
So prick-eth him nah-tour in hear core-ahj-ez
Thanne longen folke to goon pilgrimages
Thah-nay lon-gen folk to goen-on pilgrim-ahj-ez
And palmeres for to seeken stronge straundes
And palm-ers for to sake-en stroan-jay stroan-days
To ferne halwes couth in sondry londes
To fair-nay hallways kouth in soan-dray loan-days
And specially from every shires ende
And specially from every shear-ez end-uh
Of Engelond to Canterbury they wende
Of Eng-gal-ond to Khan-ter-bury they wend-uh
The hooly blissful martyr for to seeke
The holy blissful martyr for to sake-uh
That hem hath holpen whan that they were sike
That hem hath holp-en whan that they were seek-uh
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