Standish High School - Crimson Rambler Yearbook (Standish, ME)

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l wins the World Series. Forty or fifty thousand people usually at- tend each game of a World Series. This year the New York Yankees of the American League defeated the New York Giants of the National League. Soon the Major head for the South. ferent localities teams will train There in the spring are many pre-season Leaguers will There in dif- the baseball and practice. training camps games. Incidentally all you Phineas P. Phans hold your breath until ULarripin Loun parks one over the right field wall or HKing Carla breezes three fast ones over the platter. Raymond H. Edgecomb 1957 SHAKESPEAHE'S ENVIRONLENT It has often been asked how Shakespeare could have written his dramas which each generation finds more wonderful than did the last. In general there are two theories to account for Shakespeare. Some claim that by his genius alone he came into his power, that in his ease Nall came from within.n Others believe that Hall came from? I without,U that it is his environ- ment which we must study in order to understand his works. There is no doubt that Shakespeare, was a genius. Surely no writer would produce such plays his writings a great deal. 5 He studied the people about him, their feelings. In writing thus of his own age hex unconsciously reflected all people of all ages, for inner man neven changes. w There are two outward influ- ences which were powerful in de4 veloping the genius of Shakespearl ---Stratford-on-Avon, the eharmin lx w as his and not be a genius, but, his surroundings also influenced 6 6 1 I L I 1. Q 9 5 I E I I little village where Shakespeare was born 'and where he spent his last days, and London, the great 'metropolis, where he earned his living, first as a general helper in the theatre, then as an actor, and finally as playwright. In Stratford natural influences sur- reunded him. In London he studied the artificial man who lived in unnatural surroundings. Let us see how Shakespeare's environment influenced his works. In any biography of Shakespeare it is hinted that his marriage was an unhappy one. In numerous dramas there are sarcastic references to marriage. The nurse in uRomeo and Juliet,H whose endless gossip and vulgarity cannot quite hide a kind heart, is probably the reflection of a nurse whom Shakespeare once knew. L Tales of the old Roman camps and military roads appealed great- ly to his imagination. In uJulius Caesarn and UCoriolanusn he wrote more convincingly of Rome than did many Roman writers. In UTitus Andronicusn and nRichard IIIH he fell under the influence of Marlowe, another playwright of the day. His last dramatic effort was written after the return of some shipwrecked sailors from the un- known Bermudas. These survivors brought withhthom to England tales of mysterious noises which they thought came from spirits and dev- ils. Shakespeare took their story and around it wrote uThe Tempest.N Although Shakespeare was a genius, his works have lived be- cause his ability to absorb the elements of his environment made them more human, more applicable to the peoples of any generation. Charlotte R, Dolloff 1957