You are a fool, my king, a blind man flattered
To think that yours is love in praise alone.
On honeyed tongues your earthly riches scattered,
Truth banished from your solitary throne
Let madness be your refuge from this fall
Until the stage demands its final toll.
vic briggs 
Wow! That’s great, Vic: elegant, taut and very effective. xxx
Thank you, Alienora. I had the king’s jester in mind as the narrator. It made me wonder whether the fools have all the wisdom and as to kings…
poignant
I can’t say it better than George Bernard Shaw: “No man will ever write a better tragedy than Lear”
…and what a toll it was! Great work, Vic. 🙂
Thank you, Lee-Anne. It is the next play I hope see. Have been postponing the morning queue in hope of fairer whether, but it doesn’t look like we’ll be getting that any day soon.
Oh your poor things, we’re hoping for rain – we need at least two days solid downpour to stop our gardens (and farms) from dying. 😦
I taught King Lear to Year 12 a few years ago and we saw an ‘alternate’ interpretation, where the sets, costumes etc were Japanese and the soldiers performed martial arts. The kids hated it – they were expecting the pomp and splendour of an Elizabethan production and were disappointed and annoyed.
It’s interesting…I often find teenagers more conservative than adults (and generally much more judgmental)
But I must admit, I agreed with them on this one.:)
A Japanese-style production of King Lear? I suppose it is a different type of pomp and splendour. I have grown out of my conservative expectations 😉 and yet I am still charmed by productions which follow convention.
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Where where you when I had to write an essay on this? Nicely distilled, one of my favourite plays too.
I was chastised on several occasions for delivering poems instead of essays at school, but that didn’t stop me 😉 Thank you, Scarlet.
That would be more appropriate for the subject, silly teachers – I’d have marked you well for this 🙂
Always welcome Vic x
🙂
Amazing!! Loved it! Especially the first stanza is written so beautifully. Compliment does not lie in flattery, but instead in sincerity.
Lear! Yes. Now I am in the mood to watch (for the twelfth time) Olivier’s version.
Great post.
It is a great play. Perhaps the best tragedy the bard ever wrote. I can’t wait to see it again on stage. Thank you for your comment. Its enthusiasm has certainly infected me as well 🙂
I once saw a production of Lear at Shakespeare in the Park in Dallas. The dress was modern military, but they pulled off an excellent Lear. Hamlet, Macbeth, and Lear are all my favorites. I love the Zeffirelli Hamlet; The Polanski Macbeth and of course the aforementioned Olivier Lear. Branagh’s Henry V is up there too.
I believe the BFI has some of the older plays in its archives. I wonder whether they will be screening any in the near future. Will have to investigate. Thank you for sharing.
Me too.
Thanks.
(I can never get enuff Shakespeare)
Nor I 🙂