Some poems.

[ihamlet.livejournal.com]

Hullo, all. Big, BIG Harry Monmouth buff at your service (nimble-footed madcap princes of Wales FTW). Wrote a couple poems 'round a half a year ago about the two Plantagenets I've been fortunate enough to portray onstage. Malheureusement, they're in French. As there seems to be a correlation between interest in Shakespeare and interest in languages, however, I'll post them anyway with the hopes that someone will appreciate them. Anyhow, I'm unspeakably enthused that this community even exists (props to haradwen for referring me) and I hope to shoot the breeze with you delirious weirdos in the near future. Here's a health to the company to a boost in activity.



héraut de la mort

dites-moi, ô roi-poète, pourquoi vos yeux sont vides,
songez-vous à la belle france loin de cette prison grise
où, noyée par sa peine immense, vous pleurez jeune isabelle ?
dites-moi, ô roi-poète, pourquoi vous baissez la tète,
songez-vous aux grandes hontes que vous avez souffertes ?
revivez-vous le moment où vous voyiez la glace brisée ?
dites-moi, ô roi-poète, pourquoi vous vous cachez le visage,
songez-vous aux erreurs graves que vous n’avez jamais vues
qui maintenant suppurent sans cesse et intensifient vos chagrins ?
dites-moi, ô roi-poète, pourquoi vous vous recroquevillez,
quelle force d’homme a démonté votre noblesse et majesté ?
quelle être vicieux vous a dépouillé de la dignité humaine ?
la luxe flamboyante ne subsiste plus, mais la bravoure survit toujours,
car quand il n’y a que la grande descente, l’honneur devient la porte,
donc dites-moi, ô ancien roi-poète ! comment affronterez-vous la mort ?


que feras-tu, cher guerrier

que feras-tu, cher guerrier, jeune lion, petit héros ?
que-feras tu quand le gros vieillard s'éclaffe ?
quand il te saigne et il te provoque ?
quand il sourit diaboliquement et bénit son mode de vie ?
que feras-tu, cher guerrier, jeune lion, petit héros ?
que-feras tu quand ton père te rappelle ?
quand il te force à retourner à la cour ?
quand il t'exige la signification de sa place et de la tienne ?
que feras-tu, cher guerrier, jeune lion, petit héros ?
que-feras tu quand la terre commence à brûler ?
quand l'esprit de la révolte et du combat persiste dans l'air ?
quand ta main aspire à l'acier ?
que feras-tu, cher guerrier, jeune lion, petit héros ?
que-feras tu quand les nuages se séparent au-dessus du champ de bataille ?
quand tu attrape l'œil sauvage de l'autre?
quand il lève son glaive et charge ?
que feras-tu, cher guerrier, jeune lion, petit héros ?
que-feras tu quand les trompettes braillent ?
quand la victoire est la tienne mais quelque chose te manque ?
quand ton destin se démêle, attendant ton choix d'action ?
que feras-tu ?.

Comments

weep thou for me in France

[angevin2.livejournal.com]

You played Richard II! Awesome. Also, welcome aboard. :)

Re: weep thou for me in France

[ihamlet.livejournal.com]

And Harry Monmouth in both stages of his Shakespearean life. x]
Thanks for the welcome; glad to be here. Brilliant comm!

Re: weep thou for me in France

[angevin2.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed, but Richard II is the one on whom I have a perverse fixation. ;)

Re: weep thou for me in France

[ihamlet.livejournal.com]

Haha. I see. Would love to hear the perverse reasons behind the perverse fixation.
Was perhaps the production I regretted most in my time with that troupe, due, in no small part, to the ridiculous costume. My sleeves were longer than I am.

Re: weep thou for me in France

[angevin2.livejournal.com]

I approve of historically accurate sleeves. Possibly I spend too much time in the fourteenth century, because all that shit looks normal now.

The perverse reasons are manifold, and I suppose I could say it's the language or the politics, or the subtly-executed genderfuck, or Derek Jacobi's performance or Fiona Shaw's, or the United Airlines commercial I saw as a child with the "sceptred isle" speech in it, or the fact that it was the first text on which I did really serious academic work (my thesis in undergrad, generated by my weird reaction to it by which I didn't love it at first and I thought I would and needed to work through that), but probably the lasting and most resonant reason is that it gave me a framework through which to vocalize my depression.

(Also, this reminds me that I'd planned to start a "why I love my favorite Shakespeare play" thread on my own journal -- inspired by this (http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/static/cs/uk/10/minisites/shakespeare/readmore/whyilove01.html), in which my own favorite is left out!)

Re: weep thou for me in France

[ihamlet.livejournal.com]

Oh, historically accurate sleeves are perfectly normal to me. But that doesn't make them any less irksome. Christ. Give me a tunic I can move in.

The verse is sublime, I'll give you that. I s'pose I just become bored easily when everything is so beautiful.

I'm surprised no one listed 'Lear'. Although it's not my favourite, it seems to be the favoured play among many of my cohorts (thespian and academian). You should cross-post the finished product here or at the very least let me know when it's up and running. I'm always eager to learn about personal rapports between Shakespeare's works and the people who appreciate them. In a non-stalkerish way.

Re: weep thou for me in France

[angevin2.livejournal.com]

Being king means you don't have to move! Which is the point of the sleeves in the first place!

The verse is sublime, I'll give you that. I s'pose I just become bored easily when everything is so beautiful.

Bah. Now you sound like my students. I think the thing that makes the beautiful verse work is that it's about all sorts of unbeautiful things.

I will probably do the thread this evening once I have gotten to a point where I feel loopy enough to say vaguely uninhibited things about my vaguely unnatural relationship to Richard II.

Re: weep thou for me in France

[ihamlet.livejournal.com]

Ha! How Richard of you to say so. A King should move more than his people if he wants to expand his lands and pwn his barons. But I'll concede to the notion that looking pretty is important, too.

Don't mistake me. I love beautiful verse about unbeautiful things (such as corpses - oh, Baudelaire). I pity Richard, but I don't sympathise with him, and I think that subtle distinction's at the crux of my indifference -- and not necessarily dislike! -- to the production in which I acted.

*Excuse the double notification.

Re: weep thou for me in France

[angevin2.livejournal.com]

In re: prettiness, I think it is just about time to use this icon.

I pity Richard, but I don't sympathise with him, and I think that subtle distinction's at the crux of my indifference

Fair enough: de gustibus non disputandem. Actually, I didn't either, the first time I read the play (although he does have a lot of my worst qualities taken to extremes -- like, you don't actually have to kill me to get me to stop talking, and that is the only way to shut Richard up), but I kept poking at the play because I thought I would. Then I had a depressive episode the summer after college and a lot of it suddenly felt a lot more resonant.

Re: weep thou for me in France

[ihamlet.livejournal.com]

And what an appropriate icon it is.

I may not sympathise with Richard, but I certainly sympathise with your attachment to him and his play. Props to Mr Shakespeare, who is remains underrated in spite of his renown.

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

You had me at 'pourquoi vos yeux sont vides'. :)

I always read poems aloud, and I love how different they sound. The first is such a Richard poem, all those lovely, long phrase, and the second is much more staccato, and fits Hal beautifully. Thanks so much for sharing these!

[ihamlet.livejournal.com]

Here's to rhythmic character in poesy! Do you speak French?

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

I do, though not as well as I'd like -- I can read it fluently these days, and it does come back when I'm surrounded by people speaking it (I discovered this in Brussels a few weeks ago), but for some reason, I stumble very stupidly when trying to speak it on my own.

[ihamlet.livejournal.com]

Bruxelles, hein? Très cool. I had the chance to live and study there, once. In any case, I understand your position. Reading comprehension is always easier to improve and maintain when learning languages (at least in an academic setting o.0).

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

So true, though I'm glad I at least have kept up the reading.

[ihamlet.livejournal.com]

Reading what, might I ask? I'm always on the hunt for good francophone reads. Good suggestions are hard to come by in Midwestern America.

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Oh, my reading is mainly for my dissertation and consists of mostly fifteenth-century Burgundian chronicles. Which are fun in their own way, but not so much in terms of light reading. ;)

That being said, if you're in Ohio and have access to Interlibrary Loan, Ohio State University (where I did my undergrad degree) at least used to have a lot of French literature just sitting on shelves in the library. Granted, that was some years ago, but it's worth a try if you're in the area.

[ihamlet.livejournal.com]

...but not so much in terms of light reading. They should be. I think the mainstream could use a little more obscure Burgundian history. x]

I'm afraid I'm a little further NW of Ohio and although my University has its fair share of French literature available in its collections, I'm afraid they're mostly comprised of big names from big movements, most of which I have already studied. Ah well. That's what the internet's for.

Can I ask where you're studying now?

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

I'm just finishing up my doctorate in the UK, in Oxford, working on representations of fifteenth-century queens. Hence the chronicles. ;)

Are you looking for any particular time period? I'm pretty good for medieval texts, the usual seventeenth-century suspects, and occasional nineteenth-century novelists and playwrights.

[ihamlet.livejournal.com]

Doctorate, eh? Swell! Can't say I'm quite there yet in my schooling. Will you be looking to do research or for professorship after matriculating?

Anything but the nineteenth century. x] Can suggest any (non-religious) medieval texts that depart from the standard themes of war and romance? Just a prompt.

[speak-me-fair.livejournal.com]

These are wonderful! I love your use of troubadour-style repetition, and particularly this last:

la luxe flamboyante ne subsiste plus, mais la bravoure survit toujours,
car quand il n’y a que la grande descente, l’honneur devient la porte,
donc dites-moi, ô ancien roi-poète ! comment affronterez-vous la mort ?

They fit the characters perfectly.

[ihamlet.livejournal.com]

Those are my preferred lines as well. c: Thanks very much to you, and to all.
Et parlez-vous français?

[speak-me-fair.livejournal.com]

Oui, mais j'etudie la langue d'oc pour preference.

It's a sad, sad thing when your interests stop before 1700 in almost everything!

[ihamlet.livejournal.com]

Ah ouais? I think I sang an old Occitan love song for a production, once, though it might have been Judeo-Spanish. All the Romance languages blend together for me and any time I attempt to sing or speak them, they sound French. Pouah.

Ha. I used to feel the same way. Then I realized that it was just my mindset and habits that were archaic. ;]