"TO BE OR NOT TO BE..."

stardust · 10-02-2006, 01:39 PM

"TO BE OR NOT TO BE..." Author: William Shakespeare, from his Play "Hamlet." I would like to share these words of Wisdom with all of you.

To be, or not to be, that is the question-
Whether ´tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep-
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to- ´tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep-
To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there´s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There´s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life,
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th´ oppressor´s wrong, the proud man´s contumely,
The pangs of disprized love, the law´s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th´unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin?? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of??
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o´er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action. Soft you now,
The fair Ophelia. -Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remembered.
Good my Lord,
How does your honour for this many a day??....

Author: William Shakespeare. This famous Stanza is from the Play "Hamlet." I am sure, this is the best poem that, I have ever read in my life. I love it!! I love Shakespeare, the best Poet of all times. I wish, I could write Poems like he did. I could only DREAM....I share its words with all of you here. I thought and hope, you would like it too!!...Bye now. Sincerely, Stardust.

PaintedDiary · 10-02-2006, 02:28 PM

Dear Ms Stardust,

The Lord works in mysterious ways. You are not going to believe this!! I was actually going around saying this out loud, in my house the other day, trying to act it out. I do that from time to time. (Thank God, I live by myself!, lol) Anyway, I forgot some of the lines, and said, out loud, "Gosh, I must look that up!", and here it is!!!!! I used to write beautiful plays, and I wrote at least 5, then in my younger years, an apartment fire destroyed my plays, paintings, and poetry. Thank you so much for bringing this "CLASSIC" back. A treat indeed!!
Take Care.

Kimberly aka Painted

P.S. Do you have the one about the smell of a rose?

stardust · 10-02-2006, 10:38 PM

Hello Painted Diary, Kimberly: Thank you for your lovely comments!! You asked me, if I have the Poem "The smell of a rose." You are asking me about Shakespeare´s Poem, or what else??...I have Shakespeare´s Sonnets and Poems. However, I do not recall a Poem from him under that name. The SONNETS have only numbers, like 105, 112, etc. The Poems are several, like LUCRECE, VENUS AND ADONIS, and THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM. Shakespeare´s Sonnets are 154. If you are interested in some of these, I could Post some for you, and for the other readers at this Forum for Writers. I like Classical Poems, as well as Modern ones. Well, take care Kimberly. I am sorry to hear that, you have lost all your work out of a fire in your apartment, when you were a young girl. Something like that, has happened to me. But, it was not a fire. It was some sort of looting in the neighborhood. The evil doers made threads out of all my precious Poems from my late childhood. I began to write Poems and Stories, when I was about 10 years old or so. God Bless You, Kim!! Hugs, from Stardust.

PaintedDiary · 10-03-2006, 02:43 PM

My mistake, I was thinking of Romeo and Juliet's {What's in a name? that which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet;} Thank you Ms. Monica for your sharing and kindness. Take Care, and God Bless.

Painted Diary aka Kimberly

stardust · 10-03-2006, 05:52 PM

Hello Kimberly!! Thank you for writing me back!! Hugs. Stardust.