Quote:

I find Shakespeare particularly appealing in his attitude towards his work. There’s something a little irritating in the determination of the very greatest artists, like Dante, Joyce, Milton, to create masterpieces and to think themselves important. To be able to devote one’s life to art without forgetting that art is frivolous is a tremendous achievement of personal character. Shakespeare never takes himself too seriously. -- Lectures on Shakespeare, W.H. Auden.

True of CAS, too, IMO.

---

“The true independent is he who dwells detached and remote from the little herds as well as from the big herd. Affiliating with no group or cabal of mice or monkeys, he is of course universally suspect.” — The Black Book of Gore Vidal.

treycelement Wrote:
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> I find Shakespeare particularly appealing in his
> attitude towards his work. There’s something a
> little irritating in the determination of the very
> greatest artists, like Dante, Joyce, Milton, to
> create masterpieces and to think themselves
> important. To be able to devote one’s life to
> art without forgetting that art is frivolous is a
> tremendous achievement of personal character.
> Shakespeare never takes himself too seriously. --
> Lectures on Shakespeare, W.H. Auden.
>
> True of CAS, too, IMO.
An interesting quote, but slightly askew as Auden often is: there is no valid comparison between the nature of the works of the Masters named, and the work of a playwright struggling to keep a theatre open and his employees paid. If you read your Dante and Milton closely you will find that it is not themselves they think are important, but their subject matter (Joyce I cannot speak to on that matter since I have not read his private correspondence or any such related material). While Spenser hoped to gain patronage from Elizabeth, he can't have been in too great a hurry for it since the creation of the "The Faerie Queene" was a very lengthy (and incomplete) enterprise; yet his subject was a lofty as any, and, for my taste, matchless - I had the privilege of introducing Don Fryer to Spenser in 1960 on his first visit to CAS - when we met again almost 40 years later he said, "you saved my life" - because he has made his living reciting Spenser and CAS - and still does, bless him. Shakespeare took the work very seriously (take a look at the Variorum if you find a library that has it just to get an idea of how much editing and revision went into his work - with the added advantage that he could change something if it didn't work on stage -- and Clark knew his stuff was wonderful, though he remained critical he "made piece" with it and let it stand - his deepest grief was the lack of recognition - those who did recognize his greatness, unfortunately weren't in a position to buy lots of books. There were a couple of biblical quotes Clark remembered in this regard - "The laborer is worthy of his hire" - and "don't muzzle the ox who treads out the grain" - he would wryly observe that he had worn his "muzzle" too long - this usually after several nips at the Loomis Burgundy. Ye gods, how this confounded forum works on my memory! well, keep rattling my cage fellows.
drf

Old age must really be getting to me - correct "made piece" to "made peace" - egad!

calonlan wrote:

> treycelement Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I find Shakespeare particularly appealing in
> his
> > attitude towards his work. There’s something
> a
> > little irritating in the determination of the
> very
> > greatest artists, like Dante, Joyce, Milton, to
> > create masterpieces and to think themselves
> > important. To be able to devote one’s life to
> > art without forgetting that art is frivolous is
> a
> > tremendous achievement of personal character.
> > Shakespeare never takes himself too seriously.
> --
> > Lectures on Shakespeare, W.H. Auden.
> >
> > True of CAS, too, IMO.
>
> Clark knew his stuff was wonderful, though he
> remained critical he "made piece" with it and let
> it stand - his deepest grief was the lack of
> recognition - those who did recognize his
> greatness, unfortunately weren't in a position to
> buy lots of books. There were a couple of
> biblical quotes Clark remembered in this regard -
> "The laborer is worthy of his hire" - and "don't
> muzzle the ox who treads out the grain" - he would
> wryly observe that he had worn his "muzzle" too
> long - this usually after several nips at the
> Loomis Burgundy. Ye gods, how this confounded
> forum works on my memory! well, keep rattling my
> cage fellows.

Thank you for that, Dr Farmer. You know, I was once shaking hands with someone when he suddenly, and unexpectedly, gripped harder and told me: "You are shaking hands with a man who shook hands with a man who shook hands with Custer*." It was like an electric shock: history was suddenly almost a physical presence, as tho' it was Custer himself whose hand gripped mine. Your anecdotes about CAS do something similar: it's as tho' I myself have seen and heard CAS talking "after several nips at the Loomis Burgundy."

*Not true: it was Wild Bill Hickok.†

†Still not true: it was Sitting Bull.‡

‡No, just kidding: it WAS Custer.*

---

“The true independent is he who dwells detached and remote from the little herds as well as from the big herd. Affiliating with no group or cabal of mice or monkeys, he is of course universally suspect.” — The Black Book of Gore Vidal.

treycelement Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> calonlan wrote:
>
> > treycelement Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > I find Shakespeare particularly appealing in
> > his
> > > attitude towards his work. There’s
> something
> > a
> > > little irritating in the determination of the
> > very
> > > greatest artists, like Dante, Joyce, Milton,
> to
> > > create masterpieces and to think themselves
> > > important. To be able to devote one’s life
> to
> > > art without forgetting that art is frivolous
> is
> > a
> > > tremendous achievement of personal character.
> > > Shakespeare never takes himself too
> seriously.
> > --
> > > Lectures on Shakespeare, W.H. Auden.
> > >
> > > True of CAS, too, IMO.
> >
> > Clark knew his stuff was wonderful, though he
> > remained critical he "made piece" with it and
> let
> > it stand - his deepest grief was the lack of
> > recognition - those who did recognize his
> > greatness, unfortunately weren't in a position
> to
> > buy lots of books. There were a couple of
> > biblical quotes Clark remembered in this regard
> -
> > "The laborer is worthy of his hire" - and
> "don't
> > muzzle the ox who treads out the grain" - he
> would
> > wryly observe that he had worn his "muzzle" too
> > long - this usually after several nips at the
> > Loomis Burgundy. Ye gods, how this confounded
> > forum works on my memory! well, keep rattling
> my
> > cage fellows.
>
> Thank you for that, Dr Farmer. You know, I was
> once shaking hands with someone when he suddenly,
> and unexpectedly, gripped harder and told me: "You
> are shaking hands with a man who shook hands with
> a man who shook hands with Custer*." It was like
> an electric shock: history was suddenly almost a
> physical presence, as tho' it was Custer himself
> whose hand gripped mine. Your anecdotes about CAS
> do something similar: it's as tho' I myself have
> seen and heard CAS talking "after several nips at
> the Loomis Burgundy."
>
> *Not true: it was Wild Bill Hickok.†
>
> †Still not true: it was Sitting Bull.‡
>
> ‡No, just kidding: it WAS Custer.*
I have had the privilege of having an "historical sense" for a long time - my Dad grew up listening to his grandfather's tales of the Civil War, a man for whom I was proudly named - During WWII, Winston Churchill visited the US toward the end of the war, my Dad was stationed at Fort Sill, OK, and at a huge parade/parachute drop et al, Churchill came to the reviewing stand from behind where my Mom and I were standing and shook my hand - I know about this because the parents reminded me of it in later years - Churchill was 21 the year Victoria died (1903); Victoria was 21 when she became Queen (1836 or thereabouts), the year LaFayette died who was 19 when he came to fight in the American Revolution - and from the young Marquis, we have a connection to royalty that can vault us through over-lapping lives back to the time of Elizabeth and on - there is indeed a deep connection and, I think, a kind of "neural" memory in humanity - why else does the sound of Bagpipes stir me to want to beat up an Englishman? hmmmm

I guess that I have a degree of "historocity" myself. My father was one of Pancho Villa's bodyguards.

Gill Avila Wrote:
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> I guess that I have a degree of "historocity"
> myself. My father was one of Pancho Villa's
> bodyguards.


I have a degree of "historocity" myself, at least my grandparents have always told me this. They say we are related to President John Adams. Whether our ties are formed by blood or marriage I don't know, for in my ignorance I forgot to ask before the two died, I hope to find the link before my time comes. I'm also related to Dr. Robert Thornton, a famous botanist and painter from the 1700's. His plates depicting the anatomy of flowers are a wonder to behold. Sadly, he died destitute as well as a laughing stock. You can research him on wikipedia. He suffered, my family believes, from a severe case of OCD.

I am related to--no one important at all. That I know of. Probably because I am to be the most notable individual in my family line! ;) That will set things right for the future generations.

Opperman, you do realize what an awesome responsibility you have assumed? As of this moment, you are now an ANCESTOR!!!

Yikes, that is a huge responsibility! Now I've got to become famous, and have offspring--a tall order.... What have I gotten myself into?!

Gill Avila Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I guess that I have a degree of "historocity"
> myself. My father was one of Pancho Villa's
> bodyguards.

Wow! - my Dad got to know the great trumpeter Rafael Mendez - did you ever hear his recordings? incredible, and he rode with Pancho Villa as a young boy as his battle trumpeter - Do you live in Texas?

Gill Avila Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Opperman, you do realize what an awesome
> responsibility you have assumed? As of this
> moment, you are now an ANCESTOR!!!


Yes Kyle - I second the motion - let's get on with the descendent creating business - I found it to be entirely salubrious (no internal pun intended) - and, I think if you did a bit of research you may find that you are related to people with variations in spelling of your name - including Oppenheim, Oppenheimer, et al - even as my Maternal grandmother was a Croom, which is REH's "Crom", swiped from Irish mythology - a name traceable to 984BC to the Irish King (probably owned around 100 acres) Cromthan (son of Crom - pronounced Chrome-ahn)