Monday, July 4, 2011

For Magpie 72


Studying this week’s prompt, a few lines from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” came back to me.

“It was a lover and his lass,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
Between the acres of the rye,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino
These pretty country folk would lie.

“This carol they began that hour,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
How that a life was but a flower
And therefore take the present time.
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino.”

So the young country folk went out into the fields and – took the present time. What is so striking about the poem, and is suggested by Van Gogh’s painting, is that this seems to be the kind of field where the teenager named Shakespeare had carnival knowledge of his girl friend Anne Hathaway. :-)
But the light-hearted lines about young folk fooling around out in the fields signified something serious: Anne became pregnant and Will had to marry the girl.
So, a few years later, still a young man barely out of his teens, William Shakespeare found himself to be a solid pere-de-famille, a married man with three kids.
Had it been a forced wedding? Probably. The young lady would have been for it, but whether he liked the idea or not marriage was about the only option open to a decent young man of that time.
He may have been against getting hitched but, as James Joyce wrote:
“Shakespeare hath a Will,
But Anne Hathaway.”
:-)

28 comments:

kaykuala said...

'All the world's a stage and the men and women are merely players' so it was said. A little drama of the sage himself and his beloved, a refreshing anecdote, certainly!

Isabel Doyle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Isabel Doyle said...

the old, old story - but what is it to be human but to succumb? (previous version had ludicrous typo)

Jingle said...

the special language you use makes your magpie very unique and beautiful.

love your take.

Kathe W. said...

Hah! Great post!

Amanda said...

LOL! What a perfectly cheerful piece. Hathaway indeed!

hedgewitch said...

Lovely pun--hadn't heard it before. It always amazes me how a very banal and tired theme can be taken by someone with the gift of Shakespeare and made exceptional and yield some new savor. Thanks for your usual able dose of Elizabethan lore.

Lyn said...

Did James Joyce really say that? More puns, please!!

Is there a possible landscape where Shakespeare can't tread, and you can't place him? Hope not...

Tumblewords: said...

Another fine job of tracking!

Leslie: said...

Love the last bit! ;)

Jo Bryant said...

interesting - unusual reply but interesting

Jenne' R. Andrews said...

Fascinating and cheeky-- xxxj

Berowne said...

Jingle: "The special language you use makes your magpie very unique and beautiful."
A comment I'd like to have engraved so I could hang it on the wall -- thanks. :-)

Berowne said...

Lyn: "Is there a possible landscape where Shakespeare can't tread, and you can't place him?"
No question, Our Will covered a lot of territory. :-)

Berowne said...

Kathe W.: "Hah! Great Post!"
Hah, great comment. Thanks.

Sioux Roslawski said...

I chuckled over the ending pun. Well done.

Anonymous said...

Very nicely done, the end made me smile =)

Tina´s PicStory said...

Beautiful picture! LG Tina

Helen said...

.... only you! (that's a compliment)

Berowne said...

Helen: "Only you! (that's a compliment)."
And accepted as such. Thanks! :-)

Tess Kincaid said...

Hey, ho! You know I actually thought of this theme and wondered if you might use it. I am psychic.

Berowne said...

Tess K.: "I am psychic."
Among quite a number of other things, each a bit more magical and mysterious than the next. :-)

Kay L. Davies said...

Aha. I love "carnival knowledge" and "Ann hath a way" even if the second was James Joyce and not you.
I rather suspect Will and Ann didn't have the only grain-fed pregnancy in those days, so, ready or not, he got caught.
— K

Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

Everyday Goddess said...

Families are made in so many ways, and babies show up when the want to.

Love the James Joyce comment.

hyperCRYPTICal said...

Loved the "carnival knowledge" and James Joyce comment too. Brilliant Berowne.

Anna :o]

Berowne said...

My thanx to Kay L D, Everyday G and HyperCRYPTICal for your encouraging comments.

Katherine said...

I love your take on this Magpie Berowne. Intertwining two of the GREATEST masters of all time, Van Gogh & Shakespeare. I wonder what they would have thought? Absolutely wonderful!

Berowne said...

Katherine: "I love your take on this Magpie, Berowne."
And I love your comment; thanks.

 
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