Noel Gallagher on Shakespeare - "*********** gibberish"

[commandlinegamer]

As reported in NME magazine:

http://www.nme.com/news/noel-gallaghers-high-flying-birds/59127

Perhaps it might not be wise to read too much into this; he was referring to one production of Hamlet, according to the article.

And the guy writes songs, so he must know a thing or two about wordsmithery?

But let's a quick and dirty straw poll.

 

[Weak Kitten]

I went with the sitcom answer but that's not quite right. I mean, he was quite talented and would more likely be one of the better movie or prime time television writers around if he was alive today. We probably wouldn't remember or possibly even know his name but I think his work would still be well done and intelligent. Just not legendary...we really don't have lasting legendary figures any more.

P.S. Who in the blue blazes is Noel Gallagher?

 

[Cleon]

P.S. Who in the blue blazes is Noel Gallagher?

He's the lead singer of Oasis, a band that was (for reasons that elude me) relevant for a brief period in the 90s.

Why this qualifies him as a literary critic, I have no idea.

 

[Resume]

He needs a better haircut. Gallagher I mean.

 

[theprestige]

The US and the UK: two nations divided by a common language.

There's a fair amount of word-smithery that goes on in rap music, but try telling my mom that it's anything other than "*********** gibberish". Take Baby Got Back, by Sir Mix-A-Lot. What does that even mean? Some of us know. Others are baffled.

Another world, another time. It was the age of Shakespeare. Why should we be at all surprised that the modern ear has trouble making sense of Shakespeare's English?

 

[dafydd]

He's the lead singer of Oasis, a band that was (for reasons that elude me) relevant for a brief period in the 90s.

Why this qualifies him as a literary critic, I have no idea.

He was the lead singer. He is no longer in the band.

 

[hmmm...]

Technically he was the song-writer & guitarist, his brother was the lead singer.

 

[Myriad]

Maybe Gallagher was trying to read them in the original Klingon?

Though it's overstated, the "greatest" choice is the closest to correct. (Some of the Greeks cannot be fairly compared because their greatest works are lost, and some Asian classics can barely be compared at all because of cultural differences.)

It's fine to look at things with a sense of perspective. But Mount Everest really is the highest summit in the world, no matter how much perspective you apply to it.

Respectfully,
Myriad

 

[Cleon]

Maybe Gallagher was trying to read them in the original Klingon?

Though it's overstated, the "greatest" choice is the closest to correct. (Some of the Greeks cannot be fairly compared because their greatest works are lost, and some Asian classics can barely be compared at all because of cultural differences.)

It's fine to look at things with a sense of perspective. But Mount Everest really is the highest summit in the world, no matter how much perspective you apply to it.

Respectfully,
Myriad

The difference is that the height of a mountain can be measured objectively. The quality of one's writing...Not so much.

 

[welshdean]

I haven't voted, there's no 'meh' option in the poll.

To put The Bard's work in perspective, compare...

But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou her maid art far more fair than she.
Be not her maid, since she is envious.
Her vestal livery is but sick and green,
And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off.
It is my lady; O, it is my love!

With the peerless words of Sir Tom

I saw the light on the night that I passed by her window
I saw the flickering shadow of love on her blind
She was my woman
As she decieved me I watched and went out of my mind

My my my Delilah
Why why why Delilah
I could see, that girl was no good for me
But I was lost like a slave that no man could free

At break of day when that man drove away I was waiting
I crossed the street to her house and she opened the door
She stood there laughing
I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more


Both speak of beauty, lights in windows, jealousy and murder. Tom Just does it better.

 

[shemp]

Shakespeare. Was he the tortured soul who poured out his immortal longings into dignified passages of stately poetry, or was he just an old poof who wrote plays?

 

[Complexity]

Shakespeare was superb.

He was certainly the greatest writer in the English language.

I don't know how he compares with writers in other language, but I suspect that he's at or near the top in the estimation of many.

Just as the music of Bach can so easily pass through cultural barriers and be reinterpreted, the works of Shakespeare have had great impact on people from other cultures. Akiro Kurosawa and films are a prime example.

 

[Vortigern99]

• Shakespeare is all *********** gibberish.
• He truly is the world's greatest playwright.
• He's good, but his work is overly lauded. Today he'd be writing sitcoms.
• Who's this Shakespeare dude?
• Waste of talent; L. Ron Hubbard knew how to write stuff and make money

There is a missing option here, namely:

• Shakespeare is an excellent playwright. I like his works a great deal.

The OP list is a false pentochotomoy.

 

[wollery]

My opinion is that Noel Gallagher is a moronic one trick pony. All he's ever done is sing in a Beatles rip-off band and act like a prat.

Why the hell should I give a flying shagpile carpet what he thinks?

 

[Complexity]

I just noticed that the poll adds up to 110%.

 

[Brainster]

I often hear otherwise, but I really think that Shakespeare is better read, where you can check back and forth for the notes and translation between Elizabethan English and modern.

Still, someone who can't grasp the plot of a presentation of Hamlet probably isn't going to get the text either. It's not exactly his densest work.

Terrific writer, but his stuff isn't made for today's "ten-minute attention span".

 

[angrysoba]

I love Shakespeare. Who's Noel Galloway?

 

[Dave Rogers]

I just noticed that the poll adds up to 110%.

As it's a multi-choice poll, I voted for options 2 and 3. I wish I could remember who it was who cited Shakespeare as an example of the fact that it's possible to be the greatest ever in your field and still be over-rated.

Dave

 

[angrysoba]

As it's a multi-choice poll, I voted for options 2 and 3. I wish I could remember who it was who cited Shakespeare as an example of the fact that it's possible to be the greatest ever in your field and still be over-rated.

Dave

That's pretty good.

I love Shakespeare but he did have a tendency to bend the truth a bit for purposes of propaganda. He did twist the truth of good king MacBeth and Richard III and his comedies are dogs but he's still brilliant.

 

[EGarrett]

He didn't say Shakespeare was a bad writer, he said that he couldn't understand the Olde English...and neither can I. The language is simply too great a barrier to enjoy the work.

Noel Gallagher is an absolutely brilliant musician, by the way.