{"id":827,"date":"2008-11-01T17:57:35","date_gmt":"2008-11-01T21:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/?p=827"},"modified":"2017-08-18T13:31:44","modified_gmt":"2017-08-18T18:31:44","slug":"shakespeare-anagram-henry-v-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/archives\/827","title":{"rendered":"Shakespeare Anagram: Henry V"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just got back from seeing Oliver Stone’s W<\/em> and, since I’m writing again, I wanted to share my thoughts about it with you. But since it’s Saturday, I thought I’d do it as an anagram. <\/p>\n

I chose a speech where Shakespeare apologizes for the inadequacies of the stage to depict the lives of kings. Perhaps it will mitigate the anagrammed review to follow.<\/p>\n

From Henry V<\/em>:<\/p>\n

O! for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
\nThe brightest heaven of invention;
\nA kingdom for a stage, princes to act
\nAnd monarchs to behold the swelling scene.
\nThen should the war-like Harry, like himself,
\nAssume the port of Mars; and at his heels,
\nLeash\u2019d in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire
\nCrouch for employment. But pardon, gentles all,
\nThe flat unraised spirits that hath dar\u2019d
\nOn this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
\nSo great an object: can this cockpit hold
\nThe vasty fields of France? or may we cram
\nWithin this wooden O the very casques
\nThat did affright the air at Agincourt?
\nO, pardon! since a crooked figure may
\nAttest in little place a million;
\nAnd let us, ciphers to this great accompt,
\nOn your imaginary forces work.
\nSuppose within the girdle of these walls
\nAre now confin\u2019d two mighty monarchies,
\nWhose high upreared and abutting fronts
\nThe perilous narrow ocean parts asunder:
\nPiece out our imperfections with your thoughts:
\nInto a thousand parts divide one man,
\nAnd make imaginary puissance;
\nThink when we talk of horses that you see them
\nPrinting their proud hoofs i\u2019 the receiving earth;
\nFor \u2019tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
\nCarry them here and there, jumping o\u2019er times,
\nTurning the accomplishment of many years
\nInto an hour-glass: for the which supply,
\nAdmit me Chorus to this history;
\nWho prologue-like your humble patience pray,
\nGently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shift around the letters, and it becomes:<\/p>\n

After seeing Oliver Stone\u2019s W, I don’t know what I’m supposed to make of it. <\/p>\n

A humdrum bio-pic? How do you paint an intimate portrait of a person who isn\u2019t reflective? <\/p>\n

A thorough historical piece? No. They skip the key moments of his presidency and hop through the punchlines and nicknames (Guru, Genius, etc.). And his happy-hour past? Chugs, not drugs.<\/p>\n

A dark comedy? Man, it\u2019s too soon for humor. The joke’s on us. <\/p>\n

A peek at the decision to take out Iraq? Hardly. Those scenes were as fluffy as my popcorn. I was hungry for more.<\/p>\n

A high political drama? Primary Colors offers insight into Clinton. This limited film provides only a caricature of W. <\/p>\n

Furthermore, I thought Newton and even Brolin got lost in the karaoke impressions they used. On the other hand, Scott Glenn as grumpy thug Rumsfeld and Jeffrey Wright as thoughtful gent Powell were not credible in their characters. <\/p>\n

Mr. Dreyfuss as warmonger Cheney and Ms. Banks as earthier Laura threaded that tough needle handily; they brought forth people in accordance with their characters. <\/p>\n

The standout of the group was patriarchal James Cromwell as Bush Sr., his dad. The tricky father\/son relationship (fights, in lieu of hugs) is the human heart of the film. But nothing is ever resolved.<\/p>\n

The film W tried to eke out too many things without doing any of them particularly well. It had many inaccurate facts, had no clear direction, and lasted too long. In short, it was W.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just got back from seeing Oliver Stone’s W and, since I’m writing again, I wanted to share my thoughts about it with you. But since it’s Saturday, I thought I’d do it as an anagram. I chose a speech where Shakespeare apologizes for the inadequacies of the stage to depict the lives of kings. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,113,4,9,10,35,3,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anagram","category-histories","category-history","category-politics","category-president-bush","category-review","category-shakespeare","category-visual-arts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6349,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions\/6349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}