Tuesday, October 5, 2010

For ABC WEDNESDAY

“L” is for “Love”
My guess is that quite a number of folks will choose this word for “L Day,” so I thought I’d better try to come up with something a bit different.
Okay, how’s this?
We begin with a king – as often happens in a Shakespeare play. You know what kings are like…

When they pose for their portraits they’re often decked out in warlike mode, in full armour, ready to whup the enemy.
But this is about a different king, the King of Navarre, a different kind of king.

He was a king who was an intellectual, a scholar, a man, not to overdo it, of letters. And he came up with a plan, a wonderful idea – at least, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
He gathered three of his best lords-in-waiting around him to tell them of his plan.
I’m not sure just how pleased they were to learn that what the King had in mind was that the four of them were to swear an oath to scholarship. They were all to go off to a sort of retreat where they were to devote themselves solely to the pursuit of knowledge, study and research. Said the King: “Our court shall be a little Academe, still and contemplative in living art.”
However, this would mean fasting – not a very popular idea just for starters – but also, and far more important, they were to avoid any contact with women for three years.
Three years…
That should have allowed them to do quite a bit of homework. :-)
But before the plan could get well underway, politics entered the picture.

The Princess of France arrived to pay a state visit to the King. She arrived, as coincidence would have it, with three ladies-in-waiting, each of whom happened to be beautiful, delightful and charming.
You’ve pretty well figured out what happened next, right?

Each one of the King’s three henchmen quickly forgot about the oath and fell head over teakettle for one of the three ladies-in-waiting – who wouldn’t be doing any more waiting. :-)

And the King, of course, wound up with the Princess herself. The men found themselves using, when speaking with the ladies: “taffeta phrases, silken terms precise.”
All would have been well that ended well, but the ladies were suddenly called back to France. However, they very much wanted to see the guys again so they said they’d be back later. (It was kind of strange, since none of them was from Brooklyn, that they said, in effect, “Wait till next year!”)
And that, friends, was one of Will Shakespeare’s many takes on the word “Love,” from his play “Love’s Labour’s Lost.”

24 comments:

Unknown said...

Your résumés of Shakespeare make life and his works so much more easily understood!

ds said...

Thanks so much for this eloquent summary of a play I know nothing about. Time to rectify that!
Well done, Berowne!

Berowne said...

My thanx to Derrick and ds for a couple of nice comments.

Rune Eide said...

An L with a difference ;-)

Sylvia K said...

Terrific post for the L Day! I love Shakespeare and I always learn something from your posts that I wasn't aware of. Always fun and interesting to read! Have a great week! Thanks for your visit and comment, always appreciated!

Sylvia

Hildred said...

Love your interpretation of the plot, - wonderful choice for the word Love.

Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis Hall said...

eloquent and elegant L post.

Berowne said...

Jingle: "eloquent and elegant L post."
"Eloquent AND elegant"? My cup is runnething over. :-)

Carver said...

Great post for the letter L. I enjoyed it.

Vinay Leo R. said...

a very different L post for sure :D love it ;)

My ABC Wednesday L

Roger Owen Green said...

GREAT retelling of Billy Shakes!
Yeah, three years - what WAS he thinking?

BTW, I did Love myself, as you've noticed.

Berowne said...

Roger O G: "GREAT retelling of Billy Shakes!"
Thanks so much, Roger.
"BTW, I did Love myself, as you've noticed."
Have you noticed, that can be read a couple of different ways? (Jes' kiddin') :-)

Wendy said...

I think your choice of "love" was perfect and Shakespeare happens to be one of the authors I can say I never get tired of reading or seeing a play of. I also thought of "12 Lords a Leaping" when I read this...Is there a "Midsummer Night's Dream" for "M"? :)

Paula Scott Molokai Girl Studio said...

Good subject matter for a movie, I think! Great story!

LisaF said...

A fun and humorous summary of the play. It's been years since I've read it and forgot most of the storyline. Thanks for the chuckle.

Berowne said...

Wendy: >>Is there a "Midsummer Night's Dream" for "M"?<<
Good suggestion; thanks.

Tumblewords: said...

Of course. This is perfect for the prompt! Deftly done.

photowannabe said...

I appreciate your brilliant summary of Shakesphere. I wish you had been in my class in High School...oh so many years ago!

Nanka said...

Your posts are always enjoyable and great fun to read. This time I loved the images too, especially the attire worn by the Princess of France. Very impractical nowadays though! :)

Berowne said...

Nanka: "Your posts are always enjoyable and great fun to read."
As are your comments. :-)

Berowne said...

To RuneE, Sylvia K, Hildred & Charles, Carver, Leo, Paula S, LisaF, Tumblewords and photowannabe -- my sincere thanks.

Unknown said...

Sir, you do the Bard proud. I think he would have taken to cyberworld, don't you? All the world, etc.
Thanks for playful blog on L,
Helen Mac, ABC team

Unknown said...

The bard would recruit you. Do you think he would be in the cyber world, if with us today? All the world is, etc.?!

Berowne said...

helenmac: "Sir, you do the Bard proud. I think he would have taken to cyberworld, don't you?"
Yes. He was very interested in trying new approaches abd new ideas; that is, ideas that were new in his time.

 
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