Richard II 

By William Shakespeare

Methinks I am a prophet new inspired
And thus expiring do foretell of him:
His rash fierce blaze of riot cannot last,
For violent fires soon burn out themselves;
Small showers last long, but sudden storms are short;
He tires betimes that spurs too fast betimes;
With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder:
Light vanity, insatiate cormorant,
Consuming means, soon preys upon itself.
This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England. 

The sentences highlighted were the words that inspired me and stood out. I feel like these words sum up our island and to me they left an impact on my mind. Shakespeare uses copious amounts of naturalistic verbs and nouns to bring the audience back to the raw essentials of our earth, and therefore our England. 

This monologue inspired our group ritual at the end of our performance. Rituals have been around for thousands of years and are still used regularly today. The bare minerals that are exposed in a continuous, animalistic routine are extremely powerful and natural. I think having a ritual at the end of our piece will be a very slick way of including the themes and images from this speech into our piece and thus reminding the audience of what our country is like when you strip away all the modernization. 

This speech is full of pride and respect for England, focusing heavily on its past. This contrasts heavily with the appalled tone present in 'Going Going', where Larkin mentions how, as a nation, we have lost our traditional values through industrialisation and our own greed for control. The fact that these two texts differ so much is brilliant for broadening our piece and giving it a dramatic quality. As they both present different perspectives on what England has become or what is used to be, it means we can show two different views to the audience, which should make our piece more diverse and dynamic. 

Going Going 

By Phillip Larkin

I though it would last my time-

The sense that, beyond the town,
There would always be fields and farms,
Where the village louts could climb
Such trees as were not cut down;
I knew there’d be false alarms

In the papers about old streets
And split level shopping, but some
Have always been left so far;
And when the old part retreats
As the bleak high-risers come
We can always escape in the car.

Things are tougher than we are, just
As earth will always respond  (this line inspired my continuous prose)
However we mess it about;
Chuck filth in the sea, if you must:
The tides will be clean beyond.
- But what do I feel now? Doubt?

Or age, simply? The crowd
Is young in the M1 cafe;
Their kids are screaming for more -
More houses, more parking allowed,
More caravan sites, more pay.
On the Business Page, a score

Of spectacled grins approve
Some takeover bid that entails
Five per cent profit (and ten
Per cent more in the estuaries): move
Your works to the unspoilt dales
(Grey area grants)! And when

You try to get near the sea
In summer . . .

        It seems, just now,
To be happening so very fast;
Despite all the land left free
For the first time I feel somehow
That it isn’t going to last,

That before I snuff it, the whole
Boiling will be bricked in
Except for the tourist parts -
First slum of Europe: a role
It won’t be hard to win,
With a cast of crooks and tarts.

And that will be England gone,
The shadows, the meadows, the lanes,
The guildhalls, the carved choirs.
There’ll be books; it will linger on
In galleries; but all that remains
For us will be concrete and tyres.

Most things are never meant.
This won’t be, most likely; but greeds
And garbage are too thick-strewn
To be swept up now, or invent
Excuses that make them all needs.
I just think it will happen, soon.

As I said before, this poem focus more on what England has become and its future if we continue to abuse it with our modern day carelessness. Again, I highlighted the words that stuck our to me or sparked some idea's. The visionary in this poem impacted me greatly as this could be the future of our island. I was particularly inspired by the fourth stanza, talking about youth and the future being in their hands. I would like to do a piece that focus on different generations and what they feel about the youth. 

As our piece is supposed to include England's past and present, I had an idea of older people from different generations all contemplating about England and their different opinions on what this island is like. Jack told us that in older people, their short memory goes first, so consequently they are stuck with their long term memory. I thought this would make an interesting piece, exploring what memory is and how different events in our lives can effect that. I think that these speeches are fantastic stimulus, as I got all these vivid and bold idea's from just reading these two very different ideologies on England.