Category Archives: Viewpoint

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Shakespeare’s First Folio turns four hundred

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The volumes in the photograph above have nothing to do with the First Folio but they are Shakespeare, and just one of the many editions of his work that have been published in the four centuries since the First Folio came to be. The Folio, the first collection of Shakespeare’s plays, was produced seven years after he died.

I haven’t read much Shakespeare, in fact I haven’t read any voluntarily. School required us to read A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, and Macbeth but they made little sense to me in sub-Saharan Africa.

Since then I’ve travelled a bit, learned a bit, and even attended a talk by Germaine Greer on Shakespeare’s wife, Ann Hathaway. Germaine Greer’s viewpoint was fascinating, disrupting previous opinions with some awkwardly possible ones of her own about the role and influence of Shakespeare’s wife. She also suggests that Ann Hathaway might have been involved in the production of the First Folio.

As for the plays in the First Folio, I remain way too ignorant of them but a few days ago I came across this clip of Dame Judi Dench reciting a Shakespeare sonnet. Her delivery was like a candle lighting in my Shakespeare dark.

Here it is. It’s very short, and ends with a brief Arnold Schwarzenegger appearance.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=QY0A9TWFPNw%3Fsi%3DidTriGCCaAP9FndN

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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Once it’s not you, you feel safe you know

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(In this piece I do not use quotation marks, as I may not have recalled the words exactly as said).

I’ve just listened to an interview with a journalist based in Gaza – a man from the region. He was so calm, and his voice so pleasant, despite having endured what I’ve heard described as the heaviest night of Israeli bombardment.

Towards the end of the interview there was the sound in the background of an aircraft approaching, and then a distant thudding sound.

Do you need to take cover? The interviewer’s question jittered down the line.

Oh. Okay, came the quiet response. Then, just as I presumed the interview was over, the voice from Gaza returned, strong and even. No. It’s okay. It’s about 100m away.

But … aren’t you frightened?

I paused, my coffee cup suspended and waited for the response, as my mind struggled to process what I was hearing. I could not understand properly that I was listening to words from a place of unspeakable violence – words offered up as evidence by a man prepared to sacrifice himself to help others see what could not be said.

You are so calm, the interviewer added respectfully.

Oh, once it’s not you, you feel safe you know, said the quiet voice.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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When all is calm

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The end of another week. I hope it is calm and full of peace where you are, and I think of all those where there is no chance of feeling such stillness.

This past week, as with so many weeks, the darkest news has filled the headlines. The every days, and the quiet happinesses just have to tick on anonymously. Perhaps they’ll get a chance to feature in the new week. If they do, I hope we’ll find the time to notice them.

Life’s pulse is so unpredictable it’s all too easy to take for granted the moments that matter, to think that they’ll last longer than usual, or return as easily as they might have come. But it doesn’t always work that way. What I’ve come to realise is that if they do come your way, you should grab them and hold on to them. Enjoy them.

I’ve also learned that sometimes the best times aren’t always that easy to recognise … at least not at first.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023