A Midsummer night's dream
lyra
A Midsummer night's dream
I found some really nice stuff,
which I hope you'll like to read...
1.
http://member.nifty.ne.jp/oldrose/shakes97/ksh-2e.htm
" *** Welcome to Shakespeare Herb Garden, Part 2! ***
Please enjoy the memorable scenes of this year of the Shakespeare
Herb Garden. *****
* At the end of July. Over the herb garden, you can see a flower
garden in full bloom with climbing roses and irises.
* Lemon balms. Othello compared the breath of his beloved wife,
Desdemona to the fragrance of lemon balms. Students' most favorite
herb.
* Thymes. In A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, the Fairy Queen Titania sleeps
at the bank with wild thymes as well as many wild flowers.
* Dyer's camomiles for dyeing (yellow) and German camomiles for tea
(white).
"for though the camomile, the more it is trodden on the faster it
grows, yet youth, the more it is wasted the sooner it wears." (KING
HENRY THE FOURTH - PART ONE, Act 2, Scene 4)
* At the end of May, the new 7th grade students helped to plant herbs.
After working very hard, we enjoyed herb tea and nice cakes made by a
Sister."
* * * * * *
2.
http://www.classicreader.com/read.php/sid.3/bookid.1213/sec.3/
Tales From Shakespeare
by Charles and Mary Lamb
A Midsummer Night's Dream
(excerpts)
"Come hither, Puck," said Oberon to this little merry wanderer of the
night; "fetch me the flower which maids call 'Love in, Idleness'; the
juice of that little purple flower laid on the eyelids of those who
sleep will make them, when they awake, dote on the first thing they
see. Some of the juice of that flower I will drop on the eyelids of my
Titania when she is asleep; and the first thing she looks upon when
she opens her eyes she will fall in love with, even though it be a
lion or a bear, a meddling monkey or a busy ape; and before I will
take this charm from off her sight, which I can do with another charm
I know of, I will make her give me that boy to be my page."
Puck promised to manage this matter very dexterously: and then Oberon
went, unperceived by Titania, to her bower, where she was preparing to
go to rest.
Her fairy bower was a bank, where grew wild thyme, cowslips, and sweet
violets, under a canopy of woodbine, musk-roses, and eglantine. There
Titania always slept some part of the night; her coverlet the enameled
skin of a snake, which, though a small mantle, was wide enough to wrap
a fairy in.
When the fairies had sung their queen asleep with this pretty lullaby,
they left her to perform the important services she had enjoined them.
Oberon then softly drew near his Titania and dropped some of the
love-juice on her eyelids, saying:
"What thou seest when thou dost wake,
Do it for thy true-love take."
* * * * * *
3.
http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/mc/services/dep/greenman/shakespeare.htm
"Shakespeare Gardens
Bring the Bard to Your Yard
In a world where we are most often reflected in baseline
demographics, gardening becomes a rare opportunity to express personal
interests and creativity. Perhaps all that is wanted is a touch of
inspiration. For that, what better source than Shakespeare? The bard's
works overflow with flowers and botanical allusions, with magical
moonlit glades, and with gardens as both settings and metaphors.
Shakespeare's lines have inspired composers, graphic artists, and
garden designers for centuries. Today, Shakespeare Gardens appear
across the globe, and in many forms, from the extensive 57,000 square
foot garden at Wynton M. Blount Cultural Park in Montgomery, Alabama,
to the more modest and secluded Elizabethan Garden on the east side of
the Folger Shakespeare Library behind the U.S. Capitol.
A central element shared by all these gardens -- and perhaps by
yours as well -- is a keen interest in the plants and plantings cited
by the bard. Many of the plants are rich in cultural significance:
from the plucking of the true white or blood red roses by the
Plantagenet and Somerset forces in Henry VI - Part 1, to poor
Ophelia's weedy trophies: the bitter nettles and "dead men's fingers"
of Hamlet.
Start your Shakespearean garden by identifying plants mentioned
in the plays and sonnets, and then research how and why they were
selected. Books and websites abound with herbal lore, plant and garden
history, and so forth. You will soon find that most all of the bard's
"plant selections" have played important roles in medicine, history,
religion, and literature.
Put Ophelia's rosemary ("that's for remembrance") in your garden
and you are planting an herb valued by Egyptian priests, the classical
physicians Dioscorides and Galen, monastic herbalists, and modern sous
chefs. Each plant is endowed with centuries of meaning; let
inspiration spring from Shakespeare and it will continue to flow into
your garden.
To begin, select a basic design. For example, you could follow
the lead of the Folger Library and create an Elizabethan knot garden:
a formal arrangement, usually rectangular, with a bust of Shakespeare,
a sundial, birdbath, or other sculptural component, surrounded by a
interwoven pattern (a knot) of rosemary and lavender, with
Johnny-jump-ups and other violet species, iris, saffron crocus, and
chamomile filling the spaces between the knotted rosemary/lavender
array. For a king's ransom, you might also include a low boxwood
border.
Alternately, you could develop a Shakespearean herb garden, using
some of the herbs already mentioned, as well as calendula, rue,
fennel, hyssop, lemon balm, parsley, mint (in pots), savory, marjoram
and much more. Or you might prefer a sunny flower garden, perhaps
designed as an old-fashioned rose garden, or simply incorporating
bard-related plants into an existing border.
Favorite roses from Shakespeare's period include Damask and
Gallica (French) or "apothecary's rose," and Musk and Eglantine
(Sweetbriar) roses. Flowers include columbine, poppies, dianthus
(clove pink or gillyflower), nasturtium, daffodils, calendula (pot
marigold), and primula species, such as English Primrose and cowslips,
which are often found throughout Shakespeare's pages.
For the truly inspired and literary-minded, you might want to
develop a dedicated garden spot: perhaps "Titania's Bower" from a
Midsummer Night's Dream. Add a simple trellis, cover it with
non-invasive honeysuckle (woodbine), some musk roses and other fairy
plantings, and you're ready to sit, read, and ponder with Puck over
the meaning of life and love.
You might also consider a bittersweet "Ophelia's Garden,"
focusing more on her bouquet of rosemary, pansies, fennel, and daisies
(IV,v), than the crow-flowers and nettles of her fantastic, watery
garland (V,vii). Though for good measure -- and silver color -- you
could add Hamlet's wormwood (artemisia).
For more of a kitchen garden, you might borrow from Perdita's
saucy lines at the shepherd's cottage in The Winter's Tale (IV,iv).
The first several hundred lines are a pastoral shopping list, again
reflecting some of the most common plants listed above. To add special
meaning to your planting, you might even consider adding unique plant
labels or homemade signs quoting from Perdita: for example, "Marigold
[calendula], that goes to bed wi' the sun/And with him rises weeping,"
"Rosemary and rue; these keep/Seeming and savour all the winter long,"
and so on. Such signage can make your garden a poem itself, or
transform a school, church, or public garden into an inspired
educational experience.
In reflecting on your Shakespeare Garden, before selecting plants
and garden motifs, remember that the experience will not only enrich
your landscape and your appreciation of it, but will also, hopefully,
introduce you to a larger cultural milieu. You should derive as much
pleasure in thumbing through and reading the plays and poetry, as in
actually planting the garden and enjoying its color, fragrance, and
flavor. Understanding the plants in their literary context will help
you better understand the civilization which created the literature
itself. And suddenly, the Muses permitting, you will discover that
your garden has become a doorway to a larger, older world.
– Joseph M. Keyser
Shakespeare Gardens
Mountain Heritage High School Shakespeare Garden
New Trier High School Shakespeare Garden.
Shakespeare Herb Garden at the Sacred Heart School, Sapporo, Japan
Shakespeare Garden of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival.
Shakespeare Garden at the University of South Dakota
Shakespeare Garden at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Shakespeare Garden at the Huntington Library
The Shakespeare Garden in Central Park, New York City
The Shakespeare Garden at Grand Valley State University
The Shakespeare Garden in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
Shakespeare Gardens in Convent Station and Plainfield, NJ (A mixed
list of gardens)
The Shakespeare Garden at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival
The Shakespeare Garden at Vassar College
The Jardin du Shakespeare in the Bois de Bologne, Paris
The Garden at the California Shakespeare Festival
The Shakespeare Garden at The University of the South
The Shakespeare Garden at the Will Geer Estate
Gardennet's Guide to Shakespearean Gardens
An unusual, musically-enhanced Shakespeare Garden picture with Hamlet
quotation
Photograph of Shakespeare Garden in Washington Park, Portland, Oregon"
(all the above are links to other pages)
* * * * * *
I've really enjoyed visiting
these three pages,
thanks to all for the
inspiring prose!
lyra
lyra
(anagrams, not all mine)
"I might dream rum madness...!"
Midnight...same rum dreams???
A summer midnight's dream...
A dim summer night's dream...
"I'm mad summer night's read...!"
"Might send ms.?...
I'm a rum read...!"
Rummer sight?...
mad maidens??
Might maidens read rum ms.?
Mad summer...!
right, maidens?!
"Sight mend, dear?...
I'm a rum Ms.!" (Titania)
Mad night!...
a murder!...
miss me?! (Pyramus and Thisbe)
Al Dunbar
"lyra" <mountai...@RockAthens.com> wrote in message
news:4ec4c9f5.03061...@posting.google.com...
MADRID SHUTS GRIMM ENEMA
MADDISH MARTENS GUMMIER
MADDING HAMSTER RUMMIES
DATED MIMING MARSH MUSER
EDUARD MEANS GRIMM SMITH
GIMME MARSH MINTS, EDUARD.
DREADS HAMMERING SUMMIT
GIMME TRIM HUMAN'S DREAD'S.
DREAD SUMMA SIMMER NIGHT.
DREAD IMAM'S SUMMER THING.
SUMMARISER MIGHT DEMAND.
IMMURE SIGH, DAMNED SMART.
/urban lad (Al Dunbar)
lyra
> A Midsummer night's dream
I'm reminded of the "fairy moons" of
Uranus...
(quote)
10. Puck <puck.html>
11. Miranda <miranda.html>
12. Ariel <ariel.html>
14. Titania <titania.html>
15. Oberon <oberon.html>
16. Caliban <caliban.html>
19. Sycorax <sycorax.html>
20. Prospero <prospero.html>
Uranus also has a provisional satellite, 1986 U10, whose orbit lies
between those of Sycorax and Prospero.
Uranus has at least 20 moons, named mostly for characters from the
works of Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. Miranda <miranda.html> is the
strangest Uranian moon. The high cliffs and winding valleys of the
moon may indicate partial melting of the interior, with icy material
occasionally drifting to the surface.
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/features/planets/uranus/uranus.html
(unquote)
"And he must needs mount nearer to the moon,
Could not the blockhead ask for a balloon?"
(Lord Byron)
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/features/planets/uranus/uranus.html
lyra
lyra
>
> A Midsummer night's dream
>
> I found
4.
http://www.declination.org/articles/pn-mayqueen.htm
(quote)
And it is not just Hallowe'en that has this monopoly on 'spirits'.
When Shakespeare depicted the games the fairy folk play on the eve of
a Summer Solstice in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', his 16th century
audience accepted it readily knowing that this whole cast of
otherworldly characters were not only confined to Midsummer Night, but
were recognizable in all the eight Solar Festivals. (Santa Claus and
his "Ho,ho,ho" comes from Puck's traditional cry.2)
(unquote)
5.
http://realmagick.com/articles/45/2145.html
(quote)
Midsummer is known also as a night of magic, made famous by William
Shakespeare with his play Midsummer's Nights Dream. As a Quote from
Puck can attest to:
Captain of our fairy band,
Helena is here at hand;
And the youth, mistook by me,
Pleading for a lover's fee.
Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
(Shakespeare, Act 3, Scene 2)
Saint John's Day celebrates the birth of St. John exactly six
months before the birth of Christ as he foretold of Christ's coming.
The Celts, as was their way, easily adopted this day and incorporated
into their summer solstice festivities just as they did with
Beltane/May Day. A poem demonstrates how the Celts and other cultures
were able to incorporate the various pagan meanings of Litha with a
Christian one.
In praise of St. John--
May he give health to my heart.
(unquote)
6.
http://www.echoedvoices.org/Jun2002/Solstice.html
excerpts
(quote)
Sometimes called Litha or Alban Heffyn, the summer solstice shares
mythical elements with both Beltaine and Lughnasadh. It is a feast
celebrating the glory of summer and the peak of the Sun Deity's power.
Celts reckoned their days from sundown to sundown and they usually
celebrated this holiday on June 24th (that would be our June 23rd) and
this what is known as Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Eve".
While the midwinter celebration was turned into "Christmas",
celebrated on Dec 25th, midsummer was celebrated as "The Feast of John
the Baptist". In keeping with the celebration of life, the day is one
of the very few saint's days to mark the anniversary of the birth,
rather than the death, of its namesake.
While the solstice can technically occur anywhere between June 20 -
26th, the Christian holy day is fixed at June 24th (although, in the
old way, festivities are celebrated the night before, or St. John's
Eve). The precursor to Christ, it was John who baptized Jesus in the
River Jordan -- for which service Jesus referred to him as: "A burning
and shining light." Accordingly, the Church could in good conscience
instruct congregations to light their Midsummer fires as they had
always done -- if only they would turn their thoughts to St. John
instead of the sun.
There is much folklore associated with Midsummer's or St Johns Eve.
For instance, it is a night specially sacred to Faerie Folk, almost as
important as Samhain, or Halloween, for the Faerie enjoyed riding on
Midsummer's night. To see the Riders, gathering fern seed at midnight
and rubbing it on one's eyelids was said to be sovereign. To be
protected from harm, one simply had to turn one's clothes inside out.
In most European countries, it was the custom to light a large
bonfire after sundown, which served a double purpose of providing
light to revelers and keeping "Evil Spirits" away. According to Lady
Wilde, the great chronicler of Irish folk lore, "On that night, all
the people of the adjacent country kept fixed watch on the western
promontory of Howth, and the moment the first flash was seen from that
spot, the fact of ignition was announced with wild cries and cheers
repeated from village to village, when all the local fires began to
blaze, and Ireland was circled by a cordon of flame rising up from
every hill. Then the dance and song began round every fire, and the
wild hurrahs filled the air with the most frantic revelry.
Wheels swathed in straw were also ignited and sent rolling down
hills. If the wheel remained lit all the way down and blazed for a
long time, it was thought that the harvest would be abundant.
Many would stay up all night and the more courageous might spend
the night keeping watch in a stone circle. Even though it might lead
to death or madness, it was also believed such a vigil could bestow
"The Power of Inspiration", insuring that one would become a great
poet or bard.
On this night, five plants were thought to have special powers -
Rue, Roses, St John's Wort, of course, Vervain and trefoil (a type of
clover). Legends also recount that the fern produces a magickal flower
that blooms only on Midsummer's (St. John's) Eve. The strange blossom
is said to bestow second sight, the vision of a future spouse,
strength, moral fortitude, good fortune, or an encounter with the
Faery folk.
(unquote)
lyra
> lyra wrote in message news:<4ec4c9f5.03061...@posting.google.com>...
> > looking for pages about
> >
> > A Midsummer night's dream
> >
> > I found
>
> http://www.echoedvoices.org/Jun2002/Solstice.html
>
> (quote)
> On this night, five plants were thought to have special powers -
> Rue, Roses, St John's Wort, of course, Vervain and trefoil (a type of
> clover). Legends also recount that the fern produces a magickal flower
> that blooms only on Midsummer's (St. John's) Eve. The strange blossom
> is said to bestow second sight, the vision of a future spouse,
> strength, moral fortitude, good fortune, or an encounter with the
> Faery folk.
>
> (unquote)
St. John's Wort ( Hypericum )
High Peri come
St. John swore it
St. John's word
( peri
Etymology: Persian peri fairy, genius, from Middle Persian parIk )