As I think I mentioned here before (Oh, age, and age's evils -- including a bad memory), my grandmother was what was called a dramatic reader -- quite famous in her day. And my father was a poet, who gave magnificent readings (the readings were better than the poetry itself). We always read poetry aloud at home, for fun...And sometimes acted it out. I remember that my favorite, as a child, was the ballad Sir Patrick Spens. My only beef was that I never was allowed to be Sir Patrick; since I was the littlest, I had to be the cabin boy, or whatever he was, who only got to say:
Now ever alack, my master dear,
I fear a deadly storm.
'I saw the new moon late yestreen
Wi' the auld moon in her arm;
And if we gang to sea, master,
I fear we'll come to harm.'
And that was it. Phooey. But we acted it out on the beach, right by the ocean, on stormy days...
Joan |
