Just as the dawn breaks quietly over the snow-clad earth ,What better than writing about the best piece of poetry you have read ! Well, i would say none. Possessed by the literary swerve i watch the snow kiss the earth subtly and am quietly transported into a whole new world of Perissology and Semantics.In a split of a second you find yourself admiring the impossible lyrical ability of a legend and the next instant you wonder how worthless everything else seems . (They may have been parallel or overlapping thoughts btw! ) As i ponder and pine for a hot cuppa coffee while enjoying my moment of literary bliss, i present you one of the pleasant sonnets of the most admired British bard!
No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell:
Nay, if you read this line, remember not
The hand that writ it, for I love you so,
That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,
If thinking on me then should make you woe.
O! if, I say, you look upon this verse,
When I perhaps compounded am with clay,
Do not so much as my poor name rehearse;
But let your love even with my life decay;
Lest the wise world should look into your moan,
And mock you with me after I am gone.
And for those who think its Greek and Latin, Here's the Paraphrase
You can mourn for me when I am dead, but no longer
Than when you hear the solemn-sounding bell
Announce to the world that I have gone
From this vile world, to live with the worms (in the grave):
If you read this line, do not remember
The hand that wrote it; for I love you so much
That I would rather you forget me completely
If thinking about me when I am gone would make you upset.
O, if you look upon this sonnet
When my body has become mixed with the dust and dirt,
Do not even mention my insignificant name.
But let your love decay in the same way that my life rots away,
So that the malicious people in world do not pry into your grief
And use your relationship with me to mock you after I am dead.
*How much ever i think the paraphrase conveys the the gist of the verse,i still think and will always continue to think that Shakespeare's work is unjustified and underrated. Though there have been many who have provided nearly accurate translation, there is always something lacking in it when you read it in plain English. Well,its just his magic! More of a feel-good Literature factor to it that is left for the reader to capture with his heart rather than his wit i believe. His work is more about how you feel and less about how,i repeat how and not what you understand.*
-And like he said in one of his sonnets " My verse distills your truth" , i wish this distilled his!
Ex Oh !
W.W
