Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Drink to me only with thine eyes...


I had forgotten there was a song attached to this title, let alone such a lovely poem written in 1616 by Ben Jonson. It is entitled To Celia.

Drink to me only with thine eyes,
     And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss within the cup
     And I'll not ask for wine.
The thirst that from the soul doth rise
     Doth ask a drink divine;
But might I of Jove's nectar sup,
     I would not change for thine.

I sent thee late a rosy wreath,
     Not so much honouring thee
As giving it a hope that there
     It could not withered be;
But thou thereon didst only breathe,
     And sent'st it back to me;
Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,
     Not of itself but thee!


When I first planned this post, I was going to use several pictures of Mr. Armitage enjoying a drink, but I guess RA fans must think alike because Mulubinba beat me to it! Here are some lovely screencaps of Richard imbibing various fluids.
Photo Friday: Trivial Questions for Mr. RA
Scroll down to question 7 - that 's where the pictures start.

I had picked the title for the post as a further tribute to RA's eyes, but when I did some research I discovered the poem -- and then the song! The music was familiar to me and I wondered if my mother had ever sung it. I think there is a hymn that may be based on the tune.  Youtube had several versions of the song but it was either in an operatic version or Johnny Cash's version, neither of which really appealed to me. I dug a little deeper into the web and discovered a marvelous website where musicians post their own music and there was a lovely folk version of the song:

I decided the poem reminded me of North and South so I came up with the idea of another fanvid. I hope you will like my second attempt at video making. (Another musical slide show.)

16 comments:

tyme_4_t said...

Loved the new video and I figured if you are going to be making more - I better subscribe to your channel on youtube!
Cheers!

Unknown said...

Simply beautiful...thanks for helping me start the day off right. :)

Avalon said...

I think at times we do think alike....lol, is that good or bad for RA?
The vid is good, really sweet.

Phylly3 said...

@Tyme_4_t -- Thanks for subscribing! I don't know if I'll keep making videos or not. I am always inspired by RA's work, but it depends if I find "the perfect" song to fit.
@Ruth -- Thanks so much! I am glad to bring a smile to you.
@Avalon -- Good I hope. I would hate it to be bad! Thanks for the positive comment on my video!

fitzg said...

@Phylly; very nice vid. Hope you do feel inspired to do more!

(Left a message for you on C19. I think. Not certain I'm navigating that site correctly...)

Maria Grazia said...

Off to sleep and with very sweet thoughts in my mind! Thank you! Lovely poem, beautiful song ... charming pics!

Twinkling Moon said...

funny you should be discussing RA's eyes. I just finished watching S7 of Spooks for the first time via netflix and watched the behind the scenes stuff via special features and the shows producer, Katie someone, spoke about RA's eyes and how there is so much going on in them, and how all of Lucas' experiences are right in them, which shows RA's talent as at the same time he is also more introverted than the Adam character.

Actually I think she was comparing both RA to RPJ and the characters they played. I found that whole discussion by the producer/writer and cast very interesting.

Phylly3 said...

I have always been fascinated with eyes, but I find Richard's the most expressive of almost anyone's I've ever seen! Thanks for pointing me to that interview, Twinkling Moon. I have the Spooks/MI-5 Season 7 DVD, but I haven't watched it all yet. I'll have to skip to that interview!
Are you participating in the Season 7 rewatch at Spooks Fan Blog?

Phylly3 said...

@fitzg -- Got your message and thank you! I see you found the Tim Horton's thread. You can ask anyone questions there, they would know much better than I, as I'm a newbie there too!
@Maria Grazia -- Hope you had pleasant RA dreams! (I wish!) I'll be sending you an email today.
Have a great weekend everyone!

mulubinba said...

I absolutely love this new video, phylly!! Thanks for the mention - I feel we must think alike on many things RA :)

Phylly3 said...

Thank you mulubinba--I think we are too!

Fanny/iz4blue said...

Since I am for once behind my big computer in commenting mode I do have to tell how I loved the music you picked for this beautiful slideshow vid. It'll got right into my N&S playlist.

Phylly3 said...

Thank you iz4spunk! Glad you liked it!

Twinkling Moon said...

phylly3, no I'm not participating in the Spooks rewatch at the Spooks site. The only Spooks sites I have encountered require people to become registered members, and frankly I find that overwhelming. It is hard enough for me to keep track of the couple of sites I am registered at, so I think I'm fine where I am. Thanks though!

Definitely watch the extra features, they're worth it!

I wish someone would put the DVD interviews up on Youtube for all the seasons. I sometimes wonder if the DVD sets released for US audiences are different than the ones in the UK and if there are different extras.

Phylly3 said...

@Twinkling Moon -- You don't need to sign up to the Spooks fan blog to read it. You can click on my side bar of Blogs that I Follow to read it. Lots of fun stuff there!

fitzg said...

Love the Spooks Re-Watch weeks. IF I were going to blog (NOT), it would be along those lines, discussing performances, actors, production, writing.

So, grateful to Skully for taking that direction, and providing an absorbing venue for such discussion.