https://youtu.be/39Jp_0i1i_A Something is happening in The Listeners, but we never know what. We know it’s about keeping promises, keeping your word, even if there’s nobody there, nobody living at least to know that you did. Are the listeners the living or the dead? Is the traveller in fact the dead one, returning once more to […]
Midnight by James Russell Lowell, 1842
https://youtu.be/XNEQTOgKYE8 MOSTLY FORGOTTEN TODAY, James Russell Lowell lived and breathed New England. Much as Mark Twain became the voice and accent of the midwest – the frontier at the time, Lowell became the archetype of the Yankee dialect. And in the process, helped define the mindset of the region. Born and living mainly his whole […]
The Witches’ Song, from Ben Johnson’s Masque of Queens, 1609
https://youtu.be/O59iDcicIs0 IN THE EARLY SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, renowned dramatist, poet and favorite of the royal court composed a series of masques for the court’s entertainment. A masque consisted of music, dance and acting, performed in a private setting featuring elaborate costumes, professional actors and elaborate stage design. The stage and costumes were often designed by renowned architects, […]
Act IV Scene I (The Witches Song: Double, Double, Toil and Trouble) from the Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, 1606
ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS to come to mind when you think of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is the witches. “Double, Double, toil and trouble” is quite cliche, isn’t it? But it’s also one of the archetypes for witches in the modern era. Shakespeare’s play is full of the supernatural, from the witches and their prophecies to ghosts […]
Excerpts from William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” 1595-96
https://youtu.be/rPD2vdtzZ3Y Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream is likely the most influential fairy tale of all time, albeit geared towards adults. It also gave us three of the most famous of all … Oberon, Titania and of course, Puck. Oberon has an odd provenance, starting with ties to the Merovingian dynasty, who are rumored by some to […]
