Soldan High School - Scrip Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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- - ,- -V A ..-s-.,,- - 7' V -, . , --1 I- 2- -e-:Lf- -1- , 1 - ' Shakespeare in Popular English mmm X HE greatest of all debts which the English speaking people There 1S no doubt that Shakespeare is quoted oftener and by more people of all social ranks than any other f English writer. Quotations from Shakespeare are heard in almost every conversation, no matter what the subject may be. Not that people try to show a great knowledge of Shakes- peare by continually repeating his phrases, but so many popular proverbs and sayings are taken from his works that he is always being quoted even by those who have never read any of his works and who do not know they are repeating his lines. A p ' owe to Shakespeare is, perhaps, the linguistic debt. In reading Hamlet,', one of Shakespeare's most widely known plays, one comes across sentences and phrases continually, which he has heard before, or even has repeated himself, without knowing what author or work he was quoting. There is a well known saying that if you hear anything quoted which is the least proverbial, it is safe to .guessfthat it is taken either from ,'fHamletf'.. or .the Bible.. . In our Eng- lish class we were told the story of the elderly lady, who, after seeing Hamlet played, said she did not like it, that it was too full of quota- tions. If we are agreed that Shakespeare is the most widely quoted Eng- lish writer, the question arises, Why is he so widely quoted? It is because Shakespeare is the great master of the human heart and has the power -to read the thoughts which naturally arise from the heart. Shakespeare was not original. He was content to borrow the foundations and often more than the foundations of his plays from oth-ers. He imitated his contemporaries in style even. Yet in his most imitative writings there is a certain note, found in no works save those of Shakespeare. This is true to such an extent that he has never had any rival. Shakespeare won his position of supreme poet and interpret- er of human life through this personal elementg his knowledge of the human heart and his development of real live characters. This example of Shakespeare's greatness will show you something of what I mean by Shakespeare,s,personal touch . When Cordelia, in King Lear , puts her hand on her father's head and speaks of the night and the storm, an ordinary poet might have said: On such a night, a dog Should have stood against my Bren. A very great poet might have said: On such a night mine lenemy's dog Should have stood against my Fire . 109

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l 1 e songs o par mg soun Through halls and corridors Program Class of january, 1915 Processional,-Hymn of Praise . Beethoven Chorus and Orchestra Shakespeare and Popular English Robert Cutter Shakespeare's Plays as a Mirror of Nature Ruth Campbell Hark! Hark! the Lark Shakespeare-Schubert Semi-Chorus Falstaff: Shakespeare's Greatest Humorous Character I Florence King Shakespeare and the Learning of His Time Allie Berglund Marche Militaire Boehm The Mandolin Club The Climax of Hamlet Paul Webb Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind Shakespeare-Whiting Semi-Chorus Address Dr. Samuel Sale Nymphs and Fauns Benberg The Chaminade Club Presentation of the Class to the Board of Education Mr. john Rush Powell, Principal Soldan High School Response and Presentation of Diplomas Mr. Herman Mauch, President Board of Education Awarding of the Washington University Scholarship Mr. W. J. S. Bryan, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Who Is Sylvia? Shakespeare-Schubert The Class Recessional,-Parting Song Cwords by Nelson Pope, january, 19135 Air, How Can I Leave Thee? Come, raise your voices, Now comes the parting, L t f t' d With heavy hearts we leave Mem'ries that ne'er will fade We hold so dear. Shall bring us cheer. When life's full tide we meet, Our hearts will ever hold True to the brown and gold, To Soldan High. Hail! Soldan High. 108 Four years we've bravely fought, Knowledge we've daily sought, Honor we strove to bring

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-A, . . 45.7 ,L -,i , But Shakespeare said: Mine enerny's dog, Though he had bit me, should have stood that night, Against my Fire . With this personal touch it is no wonder that he is so widely quot- ed. His greatness is shown in other ways, however, for instance, as Mrs. Cowden Clark tells us, Shakespeare has paraphrased some of our commonest proverbs in his own choice and elegant diction , thus: Make hay while the sun shinesf, is to him, The sun shines hot and if we use delay Cold biting winter mars our hoped for hay. In Henry VI , Many drops pierce the stone, becomes, Much rain wears marble. And in another place he tells how the noble Duke of York was slain: Environed he was with many foes, And stood against them as the hope of Troy Against the Greeks, that would have entered Troy, But Hercules himself must yield to oddsg And many strokes, though with a little axe, Hew down and fell the hardest timber'd oak. Instead of, A snake lies hidden in the grass , Lady Macbeth says to her husband, H Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under 't. And Juliet says, Speak, heart, hid with a flowering face. Be ol? while your shoes are goodn is in Shakespeare. You may be jogging while your boots are green , and, Every dog hath his day and every man his hour , is alluded to by Hamlet in saying, The cat will mew and dog will have his day . These few proverbs will serve to show you how Shakespeare has elevated some of our most commonplace sayings from the commonplace. It is said by some that although Shakespeare is widely quoted in the popular English of to-day, he was unknown to his contemporaries. In 1600, however, England's Parnassus was published, containing over ninety extracts from Shakespeare. England's Helicon , in 1600, and The Garden of Muses also contain poetry by him as well as by Jonson, Greene, Spenser, Chapman and others of that time. As early as 1595, john Weaver published a book of poems containing a sonnet to Shakespeare. In 1598 Francis Meres edited Witts Treasury in which no