(Spring Bouquets, wood engraving
by Gertrude Hermes, 1901-1993,
English wood engraver, sculptor,
and print maker)
From As You Like It, Shakespeare’s romantic comedy of young love and false identities.
A LOVER AND HIS LASS
In a part of the forest:
First page:
Shall we clap into’t roundly, without hawking
or spitting, or saying we are hoarse, which are the only
prologues to a bad voice?
Second page:
I’ faith, i’ faith, and both in a tune,
like two gypsies on a horse.
While the two pages dance around Touchstone, the clown, and his intended bride, Audrey, one of the pages sings this song:
It was a lover and his lass,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
That o’er the green cornfield did pass,
In springtime, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.
Between the acres of the rye,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
Those pretty country folks would lie,
In springtime, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.
This carol they began that hour,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
How that a life was but a flower
In springtime, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.
And therefore take the present time,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
For love is crowned with the prime
In springtime, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.
~ William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English poet and playwright
Hello, your branch of poetry taken from that large Shakespeare tree has many musical tones -- sorry for my mistakes in English, 'cause I'm writing this to you from Paris, the city were I grew up and learnt the language of french poets. I found your quotation by Chesterton absolutely funny and hilarious, although I found a poem called "le fromage" by Saint-Amant on the web. By the way, please find here an adress for an exquisite and refined translation of la Fontaine's Fables, by Elizur Wright, absolutely stunnig (published in 1841) (http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/8ffab10h.htm) -- best regards -- "Poetry is what is most real, what is completely true only in another world..." Baudelaire
ReplyDeleteWell, it was good while it lasted —that epigram by Chesterton that “Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.”
ReplyDeleteI’ve replaced it with a pithy remark by Anthony Hope (1863-1933), the English writer most famous for his novel The Prisoner of Zenda. I also like your quotation by Baudelaire and might use it in the future.
My French is, alas, not really good enough to translate Le Fromage into English poetry. Is my first impression correct, that the verse seems to be somewhat louche in its expression?
All the best, and thank you.
Maria