Table Of Content

B S ARDISM Shakespeare for All Occasions O WONDERFUL WORDS FROM THE BARD ON LIFE’S BIG MOMENTS AND SOME SMALL ONES, TOO PLUS TIPS ON HOW TO USE THEM IN A TOAST, SPEECH, OR LET TER Barry Edelstein for Tillirose You gods, look down And from your sacred vials pour your graces Upon my daughter’s head! “. . . And the Contents o’ th’ Story. . .” “We Will Have Such a Prologue . . .” Introduction vii “My Instructions May Be Your Guide” Seven Steps to Shipshape Shakespeare xix O xxxv THE SEVEN AGES OF MAN Chapter 1 AT FIRST THE INFANT Shakespeare for the Occasions of Birth and Family Life Shakespeare on the Experience of Childbirth 3 iv Contents Shakespeare on Newborns 7 Shakespeare on Daughters 12 Shakespeare on Sons 18 Shakespeare on Mothers 23 Shakespeare on Fathers 26 Shakespeare on Siblings 30 Chapter 2 THEN THE SCHOOLBOY Shakespeare for the Occasions of Childhood Shakespeare on Children 40 Shakespeare on School 43 Shakespeare on the Commencement Address 51 Shakespeare on Sports and Exercise 57 Shakespeare on Holidays 63 Chapter 3 AND THEN THE LOVER Shakespeare for the Occasions of L’amour Shakespeare on Love 76 Shakespeare to Say “I Love You” 81 Shakespeare on Lovemaking 92 Shakespeare on Getting Engaged 98 Shakespeare on Weddings 100 Shakespeare on Wedding Vows 109 Shakespeare on Relationship Troubles 116 Contents v Chapter 4 THEN A SOLDIER Shakespeare for the Occasions of Professional Life Shakespeare on Soldiers 125 Shakespeare on Reputation 129 Shakespeare on Violent Confrontation 134 Shakespeare on Winning and Losing 139 Shakespeare on Motivating the Troops 143 Shakespeare on Work 147 Chapter 5 AND THEN THE JUSTICE Shakespeare for the Occasions of Life’s Middle Years Shakespeare on Middle Age 157 Shakespeare on Justice 160 Shakespeare on Witty People and Bores 166 Shakespeare on Thanks 172 Shakespeare on Apologies and Forgiveness 175 Shakespeare on Parties 179 Chapter 6 THE LEAN AND SLIPPERED PANTALOON Shakespeare for the Occasions of Old Age Shakespeare on Old Age 191 Shakespeare on Grandparenthood 195 Shakespeare on Tributes 197 vi Contents Shakespeare on Health and Medicine 202 Shakespeare on News 210 Shakespeare on Weather 213 Chapter 7 MERE OBLIVION Shakespeare for the Occasions of the End of Life Shakespeare on Death 226 Shakespeare on the Loss of Loved Ones 235 Shakespeare on Memorials and Elegies 241 Shakespeare on God, Spirituality, and Faith 251 O “I Have a Kind Soul That Would Give You Thanks” Acknowledgments 257 “. . . Index to the Story We Late Talked of ” Subject Index 259 Index 263 “If We Do Meet Again, Why We Shall Smile” Keep in Touch 275 “Is It a World to Hide Virtues In?” About the Author 277 About the Author Other Books by Barry Edelstein Credits Cover Copyright About the Publisher “We Will Have Such a Prologue . . .” INT RO D U C TIO N O let my books be then the eloquence . . . —Sonnet . Some years ago I was called upon to speak in public at a number of big life moments that took place over the course of a short span of months. Two of my best friends got married, and I toasted them. I got married, and I spoke at engagement parties, in the ceremony it- self, and in a toast to my bride at the reception. I stepped down from a long-held post, and I saluted my staff and supporters. I roasted a colleague at a swank party for a watershed birthday, and I eulogized a dear family friend at a quiet memorial service. Casting about for inspiration as I prepared my remarks for each event, I turned immediately to a volume that’s been at the heart of my professional career for nearly two decades. That tome is Western lit- erature’s greatest repository of wit, wisdom, solace, spiritual nourish- ment, poetic uplift, psychological insight, emotional passion, poetic virtuosity, and just plain beautiful writing: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. The Bard didn’t let me down. Through my work directing, writing viii Introduction about, and teaching him, I knew his canon pretty well cold. But I was dazzled to find the incredible number of passages in his plays and poems that seemed tailor-made for celebrations, personal milestones, and just about every one of life’s big moments. Shakespeare, I was relieved and delighted to discover, is pitch-perfect for all occasions. Soon I’d collected Shakespeare quotations for my various needs. For my best friend and his bride, whose love for one another struck me as uncommonly deep, I talked about this line from As You Like It: “My love hath an unknown bottom, like the Bay of Portugal.” (I explained that in Shakespeare’s day, the Bay of Portugal was thought to be the deepest body of water on Earth, so any love that’s like it must be pretty darned deep.) At a religious ceremony the weekend before my wedding, during which the story of Noah was read from the Bible, I commented on the amazing fact that there’s a line in Shakespeare that actually talks about both weddings and also old Noah himself (it’s in As You Like It as well, when Jaques the cynic encounters a gathering of three be- trothed pairs and says: “There is, sure, another flood toward, and these couples are coming to the ark”). At my colleague’s fiftieth birthday party, I reassured him with this line from Sonnet 104: “To me, fair friend, you never can be old.” And at my family friend’s funeral, I shared this beautiful passage from the little-known play Cymbeline: Fear no more the heat o’ the sun, Nor the furious winter’s rages; Thou thy worldly task hast done, Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages: Golden lads and girls all must, As chimney- sweepers, come to dust.