The scene in Hamlet where Rosencrantz and Guildenstern first visit their college friend (in order to report back to Claudius what the deal is with his “madness”) is so exquisitely structured. Hamlet indulges in some playful banter with his friends, and as the dialogue continues, the Prince gets more and more suspicious, but then begins to wax philosophical. There’s a palpable tension surrounding the “What a piece of work” speech, making the poetic nature of the speech all the more surprising when it happens. …

Certainly one of the great things about Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is the magnificent wit of its heroine. Even when not pitted directly against the competing sarcasm of Benedick, Beatrice’s lines simply sparkle. The scene below displays some of this wit, as she jokes about her disdain for the institution of marriage, a disdain which, of course, becomes ironic as her feelings for Benedick change from hostility to love. Enjoy this short passage of Beatrice’s undeniable ability with words.

LEONATO By my troth, niece, thou wilt never get thee a husband if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue…

It’s been awhile since I posted a passage here at Bites of Bard. So today I thought I’d post one of my favorite comic scenes in all of Shakespeare. This is the scene from Twelfth Night, when the pompous Malvolio is taken in by a practical joke perpetrated by Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and Maria. It’s a bit longer than most passages I share here, but well worth reading for its comic value.

Malvolio. By my life, this is my lady’s hand these be her very C’s, her U’s and her T’s and thus makes she her great…

As I continue to develop my Corybantic Podcast at Anchor.fm, I’m trying to take advantage of some of the tools that Anchor makes available to help users promote their podcasts. One of these tools is automatically connecting your podcast to a Wordpress blog. So I’ve set it up, and so far it looks pretty decent.

The problem, of course, is that I need another blog like I need a hole in the head, so I’m not sure if it’s a good idea or not. It’s handy that my podcast episodes will automatically post on the Wordpress blog. But in general, I don’t enjoy blogging on Wordpress, so we’ll have to see how it all goes.

If you are interested in taking a look at the Corybantic Podcast Blog, you can go to the link HERE.

For many years now, I’ve been collecting books about the Latter-day Saint movement, especially different copies of their main Scripture, The Book of Mormon. This Corybantic Podcast episode (“Adventures with The Book of Mormon”) doesn’t really dig deep into the history of this religious work, originally published in 1830 and now given out for free by the ubiquitous LDS missionaries, but it does dig back many years into my personal history with the book, as well as with the people who consider it to be the word of God.

You see, my interactions with Mormons over the years have been…

It took awhile, but I think I finally found a podcasting platform that will work for my purposes. A few weeks ago, I stumbled over a tweet about a former Baptist pastor who had converted to Mormonism. As someone who is interested in Latter-day Saint history and literature, including the Book of Mormon, I watched his video and discovered his podcast, The Narrow Gate. While I found his podcast very enjoyable, I was even more interested in how good it looked. It was on a site called Anchor.fm, …

3 You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”
4 For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.

5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers. (Psalm 90:3–6)

This image of human lives being as temporary as grass, which “fades and withers,” seems to be my unintentional theme of the day. Earlier…

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

It’s been a week since I last posted regarding my Lenten journey with the Book of Common Prayer. It’s actually been going quite well; I don’t think I’ve missed a day of reading from the Daily Office since Lent began. Meanwhile, I’ve supplemented my 1979 BCP readings with other material from the ACNA’s 2019 BCP, the 1662 BCP, and even some of the daily readings from the Roman Catholic daily…