The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-02-07

Shakespeare you must have a gift of wise
and mastery omission. Fully one-half of
all he wrote can be omitted to the great
advantage of the remainder. In this he is
in no degree a sinner beyond the other great
writer's. They all overdo the matter mostly
because of the money that is in il. Shak-
speare's writings consist of tragedies, COM
edies and histories. OF these there is no
superiority of the one or the other The
Midsummer Nights Dream to me, at
least is quite great a drama Lear,
and Julius Caesar is equal to anything he
ever wrote. 1t took me forty years TO read
his thrty-seven plays, and one-half of these
l never expect to read again. Here is my
choice of his greatest dramas, arranged
in the divisions according to merit as look
at them. five in each division:
"Tragedes-Lear Macbeth, 'Othello,
Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet
''HiStorieS-'JuliuS Caesar, Antony and
Cleopatra Henry w. Richard ILL., Henry
VIII
Comedies Midsummer Nights Dream.
Merchant of Venice AS You Like 1t,
Winters Tale, Tempest
eff you master these fifteen plays you
have the best, but by no means ali of the
best of the great poets work At your leis-
ure add five more-'Cy mbeline,' Henry "
Twelfth Night King John and Merry
Wives of Windsor
when you read the above twenty plays
read slowly. Read at the same time a
tragedy. "A comedy and a history. Read
only when you are at your best. As soon
as you weary. cease reading. One can
no more thrive physically upon a constant
diet of sugar, honey ana spices than thrive
Intellectually upon too much Shakespeare.
1t is too rich food. For this reason / get
results |
occasional reading. In leisure half hours,
when in the spirit dip now and then into
some perfectly familiar play. Read il just
as you read your New Testament Often
you may read the same act a score of
times and then the meaning of line or two
will flash upon you i'm all of It's beauty and
splendor To illustrate: | have read Rich
ard III at least score of times, but never
noticed these four lines in Act l, Scene III:
buckingham: Curses never pass
The lips of those that breathe them in the
air
Queen Margaret: III not believe but
they ascend the sky
And there awake Gods gentle sleeping
peace,
until I saw them a few days ago in Har-
pers Magazine of January, 1894.
LAS to editions of Shakespeare Hudson's
School Shakespeare in three volumes, will
last you a lifetime. L once bought for a
shilling in London, an odd volume Of the
Tragedies, edited by Dyce. which has
lasted me a dozen years. If you do not like
Hudson, get early in life an edition in large
clear type and upon heavy paper and then
make il your life's companion. marking it
as much as you please. IL will become TO
you as dear as any other household treas
ure. Turner's Nariorium Shakespeare which
has now reached about its twentieth col
umn. Is too expensive for the ordinary
reader, but should be in every public IL
brary.
In regard 10 Helps and Commentaries
there is great Shakspeaean literature and
endless books of comment some good and
others worthless. OF these / recommend
Coleridge and Dowden. BY all means read
Tame, the Frenchman; while he is a very
hostile critic. still IL Is well 10 have our
great poets faults and shortcomings be-
fore us as well as his transcendent merits.
Among Taine's expressions concerning
Shakespeare are divine brutality and bond
eddy wise But first and last be your
own critic. You must not care TO know
how our poet strikes some one else or
what somebody else thinks OF him. The
question is, how does he strike you and
what do you think OF him2 Shakspeare's
plots are only hooks upon which he hangs
his characters; the latter are everything
his plots mere incidents"
The speaker then named fifteen OF Shak-
speare's men and fifteen of his women that
in the literary world are as familiar names