dual personalities

The battle of Agincourt took place on Friday, October 25, 1415 (Saint Crispin’s Day) in northern France. You can read all about it here. And here’s the rousing speech by (Shakespeare’s) Henry V. (Every day is a good day to read this out loud; you will feel smarter having done so.)

Laurence Olivier–the best Henry V

What’s he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:
If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember’d;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

Today is also the anniversary of the Charge of the Light Brigade, a charge of British light cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War in 1854.

Here is the famous poem written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson to commemorate the event. I think my older brother had to memorize this poem in fifth grade and that was my first introduction to it. My kindergarten self thought it was pretty dramatic.

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Half a league, half a league,
  Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death,
  Rode the six hundred.
‘Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns’ he said:
Into the valley of Death
  Rode the six hundred.

‘Forward, the Light Brigade!’
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldiers knew
  Some one had blunder’d:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
  Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
  Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
  Rode the six hundred.

Flash’d all their sabres bare,
Flash’d as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army while
  All the world wonder’d:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro’ the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel’d from the sabre-stroke
Shatter’d and sunder’d.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
  Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro’ the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
  Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
  All the world wonder’d.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
  Noble six hundred!

Where is this post going? you ask. Well now, I don’t know about you, but all this patriotic English hoo-haw puts me in the mood for some Errol Flynn! However, the film version of The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) is notable mostly for the fact that Errol Flynn does not “get the girl” (Olivia de Haviland).

No, his brother, played by the handsome Patric Knowles, does. This is hardly satisfactory.

I am more in the mood for something like Rocky Mountain (1950), which dishes up some large helpings of Confederate hoo-haw.

My movie pick for this week tells the story of a Confederate troop, led by Captain Lafe Barstow (Flynn), prowling the far ranges of California and Nevada in “a last desperate attempt” to build up an army in the West for the faltering Confederacy. The troop fails in its mission but the honor of the Old South is upheld as they too make a charge into “the valley of Death”. Although it features an aging Errol Flynn, it is not as bad as it sounds, due mostly to a pretty good screenplay by Alan Le May who wrote The Unforgiven and The Searchers. Also, Flynn does not phone in his performance as usual during this phase of his career, probably because he was trying to impress his co-star, the 24-year old Patrice Wymore, whom he married when filming ended.

Flynn was always impressive on horseback.

Anyway, I like this movie and its old-fashioned gallantry. There is even an obsessively loyal dog. And the tune “Dixie” is prominently featured in the tear-inducing score. I am hoping that it will be a good respite from baseball stress. Our Cardinals who have…fought so well…we hope will come…

…thro’ the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell…

Well, you get the idea. In other news: Eminem’s daughter Hailee was named homecoming queen at her high school. I don’t know about you, but this makes me very happy.