I’ve been looking for good Christmas poetry and found enough of it that I split the material into two posts: one on the seasonal offerings for children, posted on Saturday, and a one on the possibilities for teenagers and adults, which will appear Wednesday, Dec. 10.
The biggest surprise was that I came across a wonderful passage in Shakespeare that I’d be tempted to use on my Christmas cards if I didn’t already have this year’s batch. How I could have forgotten this one is a mystery given that I’ve read it or heard it many times on film or on stage — unless the explanation is that I majored in political science was reading Che Guevara’s diary when I could have been rereading some of the plays.
Do you know which passage I’m thinking of? It’s not a free-standing poem – not one of the sonnets, in other words – but it’s entirely appropriate to the season. I’m throwing this one out there because there may be other Christmas-card–worthy lines by Shakespeare that I’ve forgotten or never known. If you can point them out in a comment, you may help people still casting about for these.
[As usual when reading poetry on the Internet, I’ve been struck by how much of it is misquoted, misattributed or plagiarized. So the Dec. 10 post will list more than a half dozen good Christmas poems for adults or teenagers with a brief commentary on each and links to trustworthy sites that have posted the full texts. Poetry may be a genteel art, but when it comes to online verse, it’s a jungle out there, and on Wednesday I will don my leopard-skin Tarzan suit and try to clear a path to the safer vines.]
© 2008 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.
www.janiceharayda.com
hi janice – was it this one from love’s labour’s lost? have to confess i couldn’t remember the play – and googled for it :(
at christmas i no more desire a rose
than wish a snow in may’s new-fangled mirth
but like of each thing that in season grows..
or were u thinking of heigh ho the holly from as you like it?
in hamlet act 1 scene 1 – marcellus after he sees the ghost:
some say that never ‘gainst that season comes
wherein our saviour’s birth is celebrated….
… so hallowed and so gracious is the time..
Comment by su2lee — December 9, 2008 @ 7:11 am |
Wow, you’re good! I was thinking of your third choice (from “Hamlet”), seven lines from that scene that I’ll quote tomorrow.
I wasn’t sure anybody would guess the passage because it doesn’t specifically use the word “Christmas” (and has “saviour’s birth” instead), so it would require a good memory or very creative searching :).
I love that you mentioned the other quotes, too, because some people might prefer them to the “Hamlet” quote for greeting cards. Thanks a a million.
Jan
Comment by 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — December 9, 2008 @ 11:36 am |