Bardisms (20 page)

ANOTHER WEDDING TOAST

Sonnet 116, above, works great prior to or during the marriage service, and is best spoken by one person. This Bardism is better suited to the reception, after the marriage has been consecrated, and it’s a good one for a couple to say together to the newlyweds.

JUNO
Honor, riches, marriage-blessing,

Long continuance and increasing,

Hourly joys be still upon you!

Juno sings her blessings on you.

CERES
Earth’s increase, and foison plenty, 5

Barns and garners never empty,

Vines and clust’ring bunches growing,

Plants with goodly burthen bowing;

Spring come to you at the farthest,

In the very end of harvest. 10

Scarcity and want shall shun you,

Ceres’ blessing so is on you.

—
The Tempest
, 4.1.106–17

In other words:

JUNO
May you have honor, wealth, marriage blessings, long lives, and a growing family. Hour by hour, may you always have happiness! Juno, queen of all the gods, sings her blessings to you.

CERES
May you have the bounty of all that grows on earth, and may you have every abundance. May your barns and granaries never be empty; may your vines sprout bunches of rich, ripe grapes; may all your crops bend with the weight of the good fruits growing on them. May spring always come immediately after autumn, so that your years never suffer winter’s chill. Poverty and need will have nothing to do with you. With all this, Ceres, goddess of agriculture, blesses you.

How to say it:

First, even though in
The Tempest
the goddesses sing these lines, you should feel free simply to speak them!

Two speakers can work together (one as Juno, the other as Ceres), or one person can combine the speeches together into one presentation. In either case, you may wish to omit the goddesses’ names and substitute slight rewrites that allow you to speak on behalf of all the wedding guests as you bless the newlyweds. The lines could go like this:
    Line 4: We all sing our blessings on you.
    Line 12: All our blessings so are on you.
While you’ve got your red pencil out, you may even consider substituting “produce” or “portions” for line 5’s archaic and obscure
foison.
(You wouldn’t want anyone to think you’re wishing “poison” on the newlyweds!)

Whether or not you make these minor changes in the text, keep in mind that in offering this Bardism you’re giving a priestly benediction. Be as generous of spirit and genuine of heart as you can be. All the wishes you express are positive, happy, hopeful, and warm. Let your real affection for the couple you’re addressing infuse the way you speak. The language will be filled with emotion, and your remarks will be moving and quite memorable.

Lines 1, 2, and 3 comprise a long list of things Juno wishes for the marrying couple, and each new item in the list is somehow bigger or grander or more forceful than the one before. That is, the list builds in intensity as it continues, starting with
honor
and climaxing with
hourly joys
, a phrase so emphatic it’s even marked with an exclamation point. (A
build
is precisely what a theater artist would call these lines; a musician would call them a
crescendo
.) A good trick to help find the build is to think the phrase “and not only that but also” between each idea: Honor (
and not only that but also
) riches, (
and not only that but also
)
marriage-blessing
, (
and not only that but also
)
long continuance
(
and not only that but also
)
AND INCREASING
, (
and not only that but also
)
HOURLY JOYS BE STILL UPON YOU!
Ceres also gives a list with a build, though it develops more slowly than Juno’s. Try the “not only this but also” trick at the end of each line of verse and you’ll get a sense of how it works.

Among the many expressive words in these lines,
blessing
is of course the most important. Give it real weight every time you say it.
Still
(meaning “always”) in line 3,
never empty
in line 6, and
shall shun you
in line 11 are also crucial ideas.

AND ANOTHER WEDDING TOAST

In Chapter One, we heard Hermione ask the gods to pour their graces on her daughter’s head, and we discussed Shakespeare’s obsession with the notion of heavenly precipitation falling on us mortals below. Here’s another instance. These three simple and gracious lines will provide a nice finishing touch at the end of the ceremony or reception. (They’ll also serve nicely as a toast to a long-married couple, as I know well from saying this Bardism to my parents on their golden anniversary.)

The benediction of these covering heavens

Fall on their heads like dew, for they are worthy

To inlay heaven with stars.

—B
ELARIUS
,
Cymbeline
, 5.5.351–53

THEY’RE MARRIED; LET’S START THE PARTY!

Part of what makes Shakespeare so apt for serving at weddings is that his material on the subject strikes the right balance between joy and solemnity. Just like the occasion itself, the passages above combine a good measure of uplift, a dollop of sentimentality, plenty of wit to keep the whole soufflé from collapsing outright, and, sprinkled atop it all tableside, a healthy pinch of wistfulness.

It’s the expert deployment of this last ingredient that’s so impressive to anyone who’s ever experienced the singular emotional complexion of the wedding ceremony. If things get too serious, the whole day melts down faster than the ice sculpture adorning the buffet table. But without some sense of the gravity of the commitment being sworn by bride and groom, the thing starts to feel phony, saccharine, and cloying. Casting a shadow over the altar with such phrases as Sonnet 116’s
the edge of doom
and
no man ever loved
, Shakespeare reminds us that “till death do us part” means business. He provides the literary equivalent of the smashed glass that ends every Jewish wedding, the symbolic acknowledgment that loss and endings are no less a part of lives lived in partnership than ecstasy and new creation.

But lest sobering reality do too much damage, Shakespeare comes in again with language that turns us back around. Like the traditional Yiddish shout of
Mazel tov!
(“Good luck!”) that banishes from the synagogue the ominous sound of shattering crystal, these lines snap us back from the brink, swing us into happiness, and get us ready for the big celebration still to come.

Meantime, forget this new-fallen dignity

And fall into our rustic revelry.

Play, music, and you brides and bridegrooms all,

With measure heap’d in joy to th’ measures fall.

—D
UKE
S
ENIOR
,
As You Like It
, 5.4.165–68

In other words:

Meanwhile, let’s get rid of this sudden seriousness, and dive into some good old-fashioned partying! Strike up the band! And all you brides and bridegrooms, pile on the happiness, and start dancing!

How to say it:

The father of the bride can use this Bardism to help make the transition from the de rigueur remarks about “all those whom we wish were still with us to celebrate this day” to the first rousing chorus of “Hava Nagila.” Alternatively, the DJ, bandleader, or best man can use it as a way of getting all the guests up on their feet and boogeying.

Whoever says these lines must remember that they demand real energy in order to work. Circle the words at the end of each line—two rhyming pairs—and drive through toward them as powerfully as possible. Here’s a hint of how it should sound: “Cel-e-brate good times, COME ON!”

Antitheses:
forget
versus
fall
,
new-fallen
versus
rustic
,
dignity
versus
revelry
,
brides
versus
bridegrooms
.
Forget
and
fall
are also verbs, and they call for some heavy juice.