Journal

“Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more.” the poem which is composed by the greatest English poet—William Shakespeare is pretty easy to literally understand. Sigh no more ladies, sigh no more,Men were deceivers ever,One foot in sea and one on shore,To one thing constant never.Then sigh not so, but let them go,And be you blithe and bonny,Converting all your sounds of woeInto hey nonny, nonny, nonny.Sing no more ditties, sing no moreOf dumps so dull and heavy,The fraud of men was ever so,Since summer first was leafy.Then sigh not so, but let them go,And be you blithe and bonny,Converting all your sounds of woeInto hey nonny, nonny, nonny.Then sigh not so, but let them go,And be you blithe and bonny,Converting all your sounds of woeInto hey nonny, nonny, nonny.
At first, after reading, I thought the poem was quite adorable and naughty, but I was sure I took it as a simple work. It’s not just as superficial as I thought at all. I was afraid that I barely even understand it. I have to realize the master’s work or I would never read it well. Even though the poem seems easy literally, I don’t know what kind of situation it was when dear Shakespeare composed it. I thought it is important that I need to know the background, the story behind this poem back or the moment of making it; thus, I may entirely appreciate it. It is just like when we appreciate a painting or some work of art, if we know the life experiences or trivia of the author, and we will understand his work better. Otherwise, it will be just a personal, subjective and narrow statement. This way might make people have different kinds of thoughts. What we do is not appreciate. What we do is but makes a wild guess, talk about our own feelings or misconstrue the work. Because we don’t know the fact behind the master’s work, we always judge it by its one-sided cover. It is a little bit shallow to me. On the other hand, people say we can appreciate the art to make it show the different reflections of various viewers, because art itself is like a mirror. People have plenty of types of life experiences, personal feelings and tastes so that the work of art is an object. Like some filmmakers and directors say that there is no determined and conclusive idea in one good cinema, it is always in the audiences’ minds. Therefore, I think I should do the both ways, knowing the background of the poem and presenting our feelings and thoughts cautiously. Appreciating a poem takes time. Perhaps we can express ourselves right away after reading it at first time, but I think it will be too hasty and risky. It is like when we taste a glass of wine, a cup of coffee or a drop of perfume, we need some time to feel them. And probably we will have completely different thoughts of them in the next morning, in the next year or in the last period of our life. I think there is an ironic tone in Sigh No More. I like the smell and the style in Shakespeare’s works. I don’t know if I twist his works. Because I think Shakespeare likes to write the plays and compose the poems with females’ standpoint. He always reproaches the males in his plays to stand out in contrast the females’ elegance, wisdom and charisma. I usually feel Shakespeare might think females are qualified as men to lead the society. He is fond of extolling women in his works. Moreover, he loves to make his women in his plays pretend to be males. Even, those women, who pretend to be males, could allure and attract other men and women. They are the beautiful young boys. I, sometimes, think William Shakespeare had at least bisexual orientation after reading his plays, such as The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Cymbeline, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet and so on. He often puts some plots about cross-dressing or sex disorder in plays, or maybe I think too much after seeing the movie called “Shakespeare in Love.” No matter which one is true, I believe his works are avant-garde in that period. Perhaps, he just wanted to please the ladies whom he had loved. That’s all.