Saint Crispin's Day - 10/25

St. Crispin’s Day speech

from Henry V (1599) by William Shakespeare


WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!

KING. What’s he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say “These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.”
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

Old Will sure had a way with words, didn't he?

John

I first encountered Shakespeare when forced to read Romeo and Juliet. Then... I discovered A Mid-Summer's Night Dream... The Merchant of Venice... Henry the Fifth... Hamlet... Macbeth. Now it has been over forty years and I still find A Mid-Summer Night's Dream and Henry the Fifth to be very excellent. As to Romeo and Juliet... well... what can I say? I never was a teenaged girl.

With my limited experiences with Shakespeare I have to say “Much Ado About Nothing” is my all-time favorite. Many years ago I did enjoy spending two great days at the Ashland, Oregon Shakespearian festival.

Henry V and Richard III are my favorites, but I do enjoy the comedies as well.

I never studied Shakespeare, but when my late wife (as I like to think of her) was studying drama we went to see several of his works. She was educated in Sweden and knew nothing about Shakespeare (or cooking, cleaning, housework generally) but she had to write critiques about what she had seen. I wrote them for her and got good grades (with or without alliteration).

When you consider that Shakespeare wrote his works 400 years ago and we can still understand his works without any problem, why do I find it so hard to understand the garbage that people send by text messages and postings on forums using text abbreviations, bad grammar, bad English, etc. I can normally work out what the person means, but on several ocassions I have given up. I feel like replying and saying "Do you speak like that". But why bother when 2/3 of the population are illiterate and the other half are innumerate.

I strangely find myself wanting to shoot my Single Action Army into the ceiling of a saloon....

Taming of the Shrew. Love his comedies. Tragedies? Meh.

"...We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day."

I explained what this passage meant to my 13 yr. old son in modern American English language. I don't know if he has an appreciation of the old bard, but he was impressed with the story behind it, and how words can be used to inspire. Heavy stuff for a teenaged kid with dyslexia. I admire his spirit and tenacity.

Regards,

Dave

S. Hammer said:

I strangely find myself wanting to shoot my Single Action Army into the ceiling of a saloon....

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Off topic, but I was once in an old bank and was admiring the ornate recessed tin ceiling and noticed a series of holes about one step inside the door. The manager confirmed they were bullet holes from holdups over the decades.

I second shooting the ol' 45 SAA into the ceiling. Along with a shot of Red Eye.

Yep. That's a rouser!

Written by Old Will about the Battle of Agincourt, which occurred Oct 25, 1415.

Marshwheeling said:

And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

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However about the Battle of Balaklava which occurred Oct 25, 1854...

The Charge of the Light Brigade
Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.

That I know of, nobody's written anything famous about the Battle of Leyte Gulf on Oct. 25, 1944.

What can I say, I was a Political Science and History major.

CW

Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.

Rudyard Kipling

Not to take anything away from ol' Bill Shakespeare, but Rudyard Kipling could turn a phrase.

Regards,

Dave

"No! said the cannoneer, firing from the wall.
Iron cold iron shall be master of you all! "
- J. Rudyard Kipling

One of my favorite Kipling quotes.

easy co. heroes - YouTube


Listen to Lt. Carwood Lipton quote this at around 1:09 from the end of the miniseries, "Band of Brothers"..

As you may know, the brass used in the Victoria Cross is made from brass Russian cannon taken during the Charge. The British know how to memorialize the occasion.

I, too, like Richard III, and Henry V. I'm also a fan of Hamlet. As great an actor as Sir Laurence Olivier was, Kenneth Branaugh surely brought another dimension to Henry V. Branaugh also brought a good version of Hamlet to the screen. While a bit more modern, it was well done. However, I could have done without Robin Williams and Jack Lemmon in their roles.

A few years ago, Ian McKellen brought a very stylized version of Richard III to the screen. The setting is a mid-1930's England. If you get a chance to watch it, it's a treat.

Cyrano said:

As you may know, the brass used in the Victoria Cross is made from brass Russian cannon taken during the Charge. The British know how to memorialize the occasion.

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That was bronze, not brass. But it's true. Or, was. I think the supply of cannon barrels ran out some time ago and new medals were cast from other sources.

I like Henry V very much, and have the Kenneth Branagh version on DVD. But either Julius Caesar or MacBeth is my favorite. I have the MacBeth version made about 1971 on DVD.

Here's that speech from the first post in this topic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=680NlRI3v2I (Kenneth Branagh as Henry V, 1989)