Metamorphoses by Ovid

My reading of Metamorphoses was an example of the old proverb, "Slow and steady wins the race." Inspired by my experience with 100 Days of Dante in which I read through Purgatorio, Inferno and Paradiso (twice!) by the very simple practice of reading 15 minutes per day, 3 times per week, I plunged into another reading project, this time self-formulated.

With Dante, I had not only discovered that reading a hard book was doable, I had learned that, with the right teachers, it could also be enjoyable. I wondered if it would it be possible for me to read the works of Shakespeare the same way. I found a Shakespeare enthusiast (Jake) on Goodreads who had written an extensive list of books to read before ever attempting Shakespeare. I knew that if I read all the books on his list, it would be years before I ever got to the actual plays so I decided to take his top six suggestions. (Ovid, Montaigne's Essays, Nicomachean Ethics,The Iliad, The Odyssey, and Greek and Roman Myths).

It took seven months to get through Metamorphoses, but it was relatively painless. My version by Henry T. Riley was 99 cents for Kindle and had helpful intros to each fable as well as extensive footnotes. (Unfortunately, the maneuverabilty between the text and the footnotes in the appendix was not very smooth.) Even with those helps, I was sometimes clueless, and was happy to discover Ian Johnston's translation online, which was much more accessible. Often Ovid will mention a person or god without using their name ("girl from Arcady, descendent of Abas, son of Apollo," etc.); Johnston's version fills in the god's/person's actual name to simplify things for the modern reader.

I took extensive notes on each fable, which slowed me down even more, but I felt it was worth it to sharpen my focus and to help me remember what I'd just read. (If you know anything about Charlotte Mason's teaching methods, it was the equivalent of narration.)

Translations can be rough and Riley's was full of the archaic language of his day. (The benefit of reading the 1899 version was that all the hanky panky between gods and mortals was described in euphemisms.) But I loved some his poetic turns of phrase such as when he describes Cadmus as loaded with woes and with years, or when another man flees the bustling city to be alone in unambitious fields. It was fun to see the source of Romeo and Juliet in the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. 

I look forward to continuing this journey over the next few years. 

Has anyone else tried to make it through the Shakespearean canon? Any tips for me?

Footnote: A couple of weeks after I posted this, the Literary Life podcast did an episode on How to Read Shakespeare.

Blessings,

Shakespeare in One Year

I agree with my friend, Carol, that the best way to do Shakespeare is to read each play in one sitting. I once set a goal to read just three a year, but I rarely remembered to stick to it. When I did remind myself, I was not always sure where to start. So I was delighted to see this article at First Things with a plan to read the entire Shakespearean canon in one year. 

It is unlikely I'll be able to devote the half hour a day necessary to complete this challenge, BUT it is a lovely way to do Shakespeare in bite-sized chunks and to have a suggested order for reading. I'm going to give it a try.

Each individual play is available for free on Kindle, but I think I'll use The Complete Works of Shakespeare since it will put everything (plays and poetry) in one place.

Henry V by William Shakespeare

Shakespeare is meant to be watched, not read. So I would suggest watching the 1989 Kenneth Branagh adaption of this play before tackling the print version. I've seen the movie at least ten times and I still struggled through some parts of the written story. After reading it, I was much more appreciative of the editing Branagh did for the film. He left out some of the more confusing dialogues while preserving all the best scenes and lines. The movie is a work of art that my husband and I return to over and over again.

Back to the play itself. . . .Young King Henry (1886-1422) is convinced by his religious advisors that France rightly belongs to England. He takes his rag-tag bunch of soldiers and defeats the better-armed french army, wins the hand of the lovely princess Catherine and lives happily ever after. (Well, not exactly, but the play ends at their marriage.)

There are too many memorable quotes to mention them all. The most famous is the St. Crispin's Day speech. Another that I love involves Henry's proposal to Catherine. He considers himself very ugly so he tells her: The elder I wax, the better I shall appear. My comfort is, that old age, that ill layer up of beauty, can do no more spoil upon my face. Thou hast me, if thou hast me, at the worst; and thou shalt wear me, if thou wear me, better and better. (Act 5, scene II)

Several others: 

As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea; as many lines close in the dial's centre; so many a thousand actions, once afoot, end in one purpose. (Act 1, scene II)

Though patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod. (Act 2, scene I)

We are in God's hands, brother, not theirs. (Act 3, scene VI)

I and my bosom must debate awhile. (Act 4, scene I)

If you haven't guessed already, this is my favorite Shakespeare play. I'm glad I finally read it!

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

Who am I to criticize Shakespeare? All I know is that I like some of his plays and don't like others. Strangely, I'm inclined to enjoy his tragedies since they aren't quite as silly as the comedies. Midsummer Night's Dream may be the silliest of them all.

The most famous line from this play is "The course of true love never did run smooth," and Shakespeare sets out to prove just how foolish and fickle lovers can be. Hermia loves Lysander. Helena loves Demetrius. Both men love Hermia. But, of course, Hermia's father wants her to marry the one she doesn't love. Oberon and Titania (fairy king and queen) have a spat and he casts a spell that causes more romantic confusion.

I'm sure it would have been much more enjoyable (and much easier to keep everybody straight) if I'd watched the play. Maybe someday. For now I have to say the most delightful part of the whole experience was reading the Arthur Rackham version. Even on the Kindle Fire the pictures were large enough to admire. Rackham perfectly captured the ethereal quality of the fairies. The only fly in the ointment (apart from the silliness) was that I could not underline favorite passages. These beautifully illustrated books are like pdf files and cannot be highlighted.

I especially enjoyed Oberon and Titania's benediction at the end of the story: "Hand in hand, with fairy grace, will we sing, and bless this place."

I'm halfway through my goal to read  four Shakespeare plays this year!

Shakespeare and Arthur Rackham

Since I'm trying to read more Shakespeare this year, I was thrilled to find a beautifully illustrated version of A Midsummer Night's Dream (Illustrated by Arthur Rackham) FOR FREE on Kindle. Rackham (1867-1939) was famous for his lavish illustrations of children's books and he ranks as one of my favorites (next to Michael Hague and Jessie Wilcox Smith.)

If you have a Kindle fire this would be a lovely addition to your book library. And it might even get you to read Shakespeare! Hurry and get your copy since I don't know if it's always free or if I just stumbled on a temporary deal.

Two Gentleman of Verona by Shakespeare

My personal challenge for the year was to read at least four Shakespeare plays. I planned to use Carol's suggested method of 1) reading each play in one sitting, and 2) reading while listening. This weekend I took the plunge with Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Knowing how difficult it can be to keep everybody straight, I read a quick synopsis of the play before opening up my Kindle. Then I downloaded the audioversion from Librivox. Although I was not able to read it in just one sitting, I managed to get through it in one day, which was extremely helpful for remembering who was who and for getting the flow of the story.

The play had the same themes as several other Shakespeare plays I've seen: forbidden love, arranged marriages, women disguising themselves as men, fickle suitors, etc. In this case Valentine loves Silvia, but her father forbids it. Proteus loves Julia, but dumps her when he sees Silvia. Valentine and Proteus are/were best friends.

All the characters are constant in their love except for Proteus. He breaks his promises, lies, dumps his friends, threatens to force himself upon Siliva and is an all around heel. Why Julia loves him is beyond me.

Luckily, my expectations were not too high since the synopsis had let me know this was not one of Shakespeare's more popular plays. Also, the readers at Librivox were okay, but not great, which also detracted from my pleasure.

But it was worth the effort for it witty puns and its commentary on the thrills and foibles of romantic love.

O! how this spring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day,
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,
And by an by a cloud takes all away! (Act 1, scene 3)

Love is like a child, 
That longs for everything that he can come by. (Act 3, scene 1)

[Valentine to Sylvia:]
O thou that dost inhabit in my breast,
Leave not the mansion so tenantless,
Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall
And leave no memory of what it was!
Repair me with thy presence, Silvia! (Act 5, scene 4)

These Shakespeare titles are free for Kindle.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

I’ve been reading books about books for the last 30 years, so I thought I knew the storyline of most classics. But the surprises in Brave New World took my breath away.

Over and over again, I was stunned by Huxley’s perceptivity and prophetic power. How did he know that in the future “motherhood” would be a dirty word? How did he predict Viagra? And that promiscuity would be the new normal? Or that consumerism would be the driving force of future generations? He wrote this in 1931, for Pete’s sake!

In this new world all civilized men and women are sexually free, content in their social classes, and undisturbed by pain. The demise of conflict and suffering has brought on the demise of art and poetry because overcoming life’s obstacles is a primary source for the creation of greatness and beauty.

It’s a world devoid of pain partly because there is a pill one can pop to make it all go away.

And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should happen, why, there’s always soma to give you a holiday from the facts. And there’s always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering. In the past you could only accomplish these things by making great effort and after years of hard moral training. Now you can swallow two or three half-gram tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your morality about in a bottle. Christianity without tears-that’s what soma is. (from Chapter 17)

Into this world comes John, the Savage, who was raised away from civilization (where barbaric practices like marriage and chastity still exist). The only book he had as a child was a moth-eaten copy of Shakespeare’s plays, which enables him to counteract each astounding new discovery of the civilized world with a contrasting quote from Shakespeare. (These wonderful quotes will whet your appetite for more.)

I don’t want to spoil your reading pleasure by giving any more details. Be forewarned that this is not a “curl-up-by-the-fire-with-a-cup-of-tea” sort of book. It’s a frank look at the “perfection” of society at a terrible price: the destruction of family and freedom. Easily the most powerful book I read in 2013.

The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt

My love for beautiful, powerful prose comes from being steeped in 19^th century literature. I honestly have a very hard time with books written in modern English, particularly slang. So don’t ask me why I enjoyed The Wednesday Wars so much. Book bloggers raved about it when it came out in 2007 and it’s been on my TBR list since then.

Holling Hoodhood is a seventh grader at Camillo Junior High in 1967. Every Wednesday the other 7^th graders leave school early to attend religion classes, half to the synagogue and half to the Catholic Church. Hollling, being Presbyterian, has no place to go and remains with his teacher to study Shakespeare. Throughout the school year, he not only learns to appreciate Shakespeare, but discovers his own capacity for compassion, forgiveness, loyalty and friendship.

The backdrop for the book is the Vietnam War and the author does an amazing job of making the event ever present, but not obtrusive to the story. From the hilarious Doug Swieteck to the surprisingly tender-hearted Mrs. Baker, Schmidt has peopled the book with believable and loveable characters. Even with my limited knowledge of Shakespeare I was able to enjoy the quotes (and misquotes!) from his plays. Highly recommended.

King Lear by Shakespeare

After my success with Much Ado About Nothing, I dug out my CDs of King Lear  (purchased years ago) and decided to give them a try. In spite of the stellar cast (Judi Dench, Emma Thompson, Kenneth Brannagh, etc.) I was floundering to understand the story. It was confusing to try to discern each speaker just by their voice. So I checked out the book from the library and gave it another try. After all, WORLD magazine in its 2003 summer issue named it one of the top 5 masterpieces of Western literature. A quote from their review:

This play is probably the bard´s most moving and most profound. What is left when your country comes apart, when your family comes apart through your own fault, when you lose your very mind? Only self-sacrificial love.

I liked the play much better the second time through, but I still found it unusually difficult trying to remember which sister was which and which man was her husband. Who was really insane and who was just pretending? The illegitimate son and the legal son had similar names (Edgar and Edmund) and I had to keep reminding myself who was the good guy and who was the bad one. The only thing that kept me going was the World review AND the juicy quotes that I kept scribbling onto my bookmark. Truthfully, I was a little overwhelmed with the tragic ending.

Some favorite quotes: When Albany tells Goneril to stop being so cruel and conniving he tells her to "be-monster not thy features". (!) Cordelia kisses her crazed father and asks "Restoration to hang its medicine on her lips." Albany´s quote in Act 5, scene 4 has been my theme for the week: Our present business is general woe! Of course, my friends and relatives aren´t dying all over the place so I should be grateful. The best line of all comes in Act 4, scene 1. "The worst is not, so long as we can say, This is the worst!"

The word lover in me came away from the play somewhat confused, yet at the same time deeply satisfied. Now I think I´ll give the CDs another listen. Of course, the very best thing to do would be to SEE the play!

Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare

I read classics not because I "have to", but because I actually LIKE them. But when it comes to Shakespeare I have to admit intellectual laziness. I read some of his plays in high school and college. I´ve watched the movie versions and have seen at least 5 of his plays acted out on stage. But his works are NEVER on my list of books to read.

I can´t make the excuse that it is too complicated in reading plays to remember who´s who. One of my favorite books of all time is Cyrano de Bergerac  which is an extremely poignant and well-written play. And it´s not because Shakespeare does not appeal to me. For my 30th birthday my husband and I saw Kenneth Branagh´s Henry V at the theater and fell in love with it. My husband has watched it so many times that quotes from it are part of his daily vocabulary!

Laziness is my only excuse. Before my recent move I grabbed the thinnest book on my shelf and stuffed it into my purse for the trip. (Does anyone else feel underpacked unless they have at least 3 books to take along on a trip?) It happened to be Shakespeare´s Much Ado About Nothing . As I began reading I was captivated from page one by the rich language (Yes, I know Shakespeare and "rich language" have been synonymous for centuries!)

Leonoto describes his return from a battle with very few casualties with these words: "A victory is twice itself when the achiever brings home full numbers". Young, handsome Claudio is praised for his military prowess with these words: "He has borne himself beyond the promise of his age by doing in the figure of a lamb the feats of a lion."

The main love story of Claudio and Hero is overshadowed by the love story of minor characters Benedick and Beatrice. Their puns and verbal jabs are superb! My favorite line in the play is in Act 5, scene 2 when Beatrice is upset over her cousin´s problems and tells Benedick she feels ill. His response is, "Serve God, love me, and mend." What a prescription for what ails us!

I highly recommend this short play. My Wordsworth Classic edition came with a helpful glossary of archaic words.