tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8192580971664762668.post5553397508203166245..comments2023-06-01T09:22:18.917+01:00Comments on Liturgiae Causa: Shakespeare...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8192580971664762668.post-53851841064294233592016-04-23T17:56:07.962+01:002016-04-23T17:56:07.962+01:00Well, saints days in Britain have lost all religio...Well, saints days in Britain have lost all religious significance. St Patrick's Day is, to the Irish, and to many in England (and America, and elsewhere) just an excuse to get drunk. Who remembers the life of St Patrick on that day, a man who no doubt embraced sobriety and self-denial as precepts of the Gospel he preached? I'm not sure how St David or St Andrew are celebrated in Wales and Scotland, but St George has no significance for most people in England. St George's Day isn't even a public holiday in the UK!Patrick Sheridanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07995907911415177074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8192580971664762668.post-11628574474016031182016-04-23T17:09:41.107+01:002016-04-23T17:09:41.107+01:00Very true. The loss of historical memory (and resp...Very true. The loss of historical memory (and respect for the past) over the past several generations is at the root of the steady and tragic eclipse of England as a culture, as a people, and as a meaningful category. 'There will always be an England," perhaps, but as a small remnant.<br /><br />Today is one of those days that reminds me of the loss. Now I'm more of a St Edmund man, but St George's Day should be a special occasion to celebrate God's favour on the English people and to call on their patron for help and protection. But no, it might as well be any other day for most of the 80% living here who are of native stock.<br /><br />I was just in Liguria last week, and the sight of these posters everywhere reminded me that it needn't be this way: http://s31.postimg.org/c4m78wfd7/image.jpgChildermasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08776870533065668580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8192580971664762668.post-6258589362313151782016-04-23T15:45:14.959+01:002016-04-23T15:45:14.959+01:00Well, if you don't know these things how can y...Well, if you don't know these things how can you say that you're conversant with your own history and patrimony?Patrick Sheridanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07995907911415177074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8192580971664762668.post-831574463637782232016-04-23T15:05:03.592+01:002016-04-23T15:05:03.592+01:00It is not too late. In rural New York State we rea...It is not too late. In rural New York State we read at least one play each year---and I went to a state school. Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night. In my class we also did Richard III as it was my English teacher's favourite play.<br /><br />I confess, though, that I didn't truly love Shakespeare until university, when I took a course that went beyond reading and writing about the plays as literature and instead treated them as <i>drama</i>. Acting scenes and observing classmates do the same really opened me up to appreciating their power and beauty and genius.<br /><br />I also was fortunate enough to take a course on medieval English theatre. What a shame the surviving cycles of Corpus Christi plays are not better known! The extant bits of 12th- and 13th-century liturgical drama, widely believed to have inspired the 'mystery' plays that followed, are also very interesting.Childermasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08776870533065668580noreply@blogger.com