De Engelse schrijver Sir Philip Sidney werd geboren op 30 november 1554 in het kasteel van Penshurst in het graafschap Kent. Zie ook alle tags voor Sir Philip Sidney op dit blog.
Astrophel and Stella: I
Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,
That she, dear she, might take some pleasure of my pain,–
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,–
I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe;
Studying inventions fine her wits to entertain,
Oft turning others’ leaves, to see if thence would flow
Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sunburn’d brain.
But words came halting forth, wanting invention’s stay;
Invention, Nature’s child, fled step-dame Study’s blows;
And others’ feet still seem’d but strangers in my way.
Thus great with child to speak and helpless in my throes,
Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite,
“Fool,” said my Muse to me, “look in thy heart, and write.”
Astrophel and Stella: III
Let dainty wits cry on the sisters nine,
That, bravely mask’d, their fancies may be told;
Or, Pindar’s apes, flaunt they in phrases fine,
Enam’ling with pied flowers their thoughts of gold.
Or else let them in statelier glory shine,
Ennobling newfound tropes with problems old;
Or with strange similes enrich each line,
Of herbs or beasts which Ind or Afric hold.
For me, in sooth, no Muse but one I know;
Phrases and problems from my reach do grow,
And strange things cost too dear for my poor sprites.
How then? even thus: in Stella’s face I read
What love and beauty be; then all my deed
But copying is, what in her Nature writes.
Sir Philip Sidney (30 november 1554 – 17 oktober 1586)
Gedenksteen inSt Paul’s Cathedral, Londen
De Canadese dichter, arts, auteur, kunstenaar, militair John Alexander McCrae werd geboren in Guelph (Ontario) op 30 november 1872.Zie ook mijn blog van 30 november 2008 en ook mijn blog van 30 november 2009 en ook mijn blog van 30 november 2010.
Slumber Songs
I
Sleep, little eyes
That brim with childish tears amid thy play,
Be comforted! No grief of night can weigh
Against the joys that throng thy coming day.
Sleep, little heart!
There is no place in Slumberland for tears:
Life soon enough will bring its chilling fears
And sorrows that will dim the after years.
Sleep, little heart!
II
Ah, little eyes
Dead blossoms of a springtime long ago,
That life’s storm crushed and left to lie below
The benediction of the falling snow!
Sleep, little heart
That ceased so long ago its frantic beat!
The years that come and go with silent feet
Have naught to tell save this — that rest is sweet.
Dear little heart.
John McCrae (30 november 1872 – 28 januari 1918)
De Britse staatsman en schrijver Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill werd geboren in Woodstock op 30 november 1874. Zie ook mijn blog van 30 november 2007 en ook mijn blog van 30 november 2008 en ook mijn blog van 30 november 2009.
Uit: We Shall Fight Them on the Beaches (House of Commons, 4 juni 1940)
“I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.
At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation.
The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength.
Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail.
We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”
Winston Churchill (30 november 1874 – 24 januari 1965)
Churchill in 1940
Zie voor onderstaande schrijvers ook mijn blog van 30 november 2009 en ook mijn blog van 30 november 2010.
De Canadese schrijfster Lucy Maud Montgomery werd geboren in Clifton op 30 november 1874. Zie ook mijn blog van 30 november 2008.
De Duitse dichter en schrijver Rudolf Lavant (eig. Richard Cramer) werd geboren op 30 november 1844 in Leipzig. Zie ook mijn blog van 30 november 2008.
De Engelse dichter en schrijver John Bunyan werd geboren op 30 november 1628 in Harrowden bij Bedford. Zie ook mijn blog van 30 november 2006 en ook mijn blog van 30 november 2008.
De Chileense dichter en schrijver Sergio Badilla Castillo werd geboren in Valparaíso op 30 november 1947. Zie ook mijn blog van 30 november 2008.
De Amerikaanse toneelschrijver en filmregisseur David Mamet werd geboren op 30 november 1947 in Chicago. Zie ook mijn blog van 30 november 2008.
De Amerikaanse schrijver Wil Mara werd geboren op 30 november 1966 in de buurt van Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Zie ook mijn blog van 30 november 2008.