Thursday, April 22, 2010

A re-posting of "The Days of Chivalry are Dead"

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Currently reading: The Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brien
Most recently watched movie: Iron Man
Current favorite quote: "I can avoid being seen if I wish; but to disappear entirely -- that is a rare gift." -Aragorn from The Fellowship of the Ring (the line is cool, but also the way he says it is just amazing!!)
Picture of the day:
Picture explanation: I love this picture of Heath Ledger; it's from A Knight's Tale, which is the only movie I've seen him in; but I really liked him in that. It's so sad that he died, isn't it?
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I was looking at my other blog, Precious Gems, when I discovered this blog post I had posted on there a long time ago. I liked it so much (if I may say so myself) I decided to re-post it here. :D Btw, Precious Gems is kind of in its death throes right now, so I'm really looking for people who would like to co-run it with myself and my friend, Meggy. I think it calls for more than just two people, so if you are at all interested in co-running it with me, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!! Thank you. :) Oh yes, and here is the link for the blog so you can check it out (copy and paste into your address bar): http://chliara-preciousgems.blogspot.com

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The days of chivalry are dead...sad, isn't it?

I was thinking about this, and I found a poem on a friend's blog which describes this just right [I forget who it's by; Wodehouse, I think...]


Oh, it makes me sort of sad
To think about Sir Galahad
And all the knights of that romantic day:
To amuse a girl and charm her
They would climb into their armour
And jump into the fray:

They called her ``Lady love'',

They used to wear her little glove,

And everything that she said went:

For those were the days when a lady was a lady

And a gent was a perfect gent.


Some nights when the knights sat down to dine,
Sir Claude would say: ``That girl of mine

Makes every woman jealous when she sees her.

'Then someone else would shout: ``Behave,
Thou malapert and scurvy knave,
Or I will smite thee one upon the beezer!''
And then next morning in the lists
They'd take their lances in their fists
And mount a pair of chargers, highly mettled:
And when Sir Claude, so fair and young,
Got punctured in the leg or lung,
They looked upon the argument as settled.

The days of Chivalry are dead,
Of which in stories I have read,
When knights were bold and acted kind of scrappy;
They used to take a lot of pains
And fight all day to please the Janes,
And if their dame was tickled they was happy.
But now the men are mild and meek:
They seem to have a yellow streak:
They never lay for other guys, to flatten 'em:
They think they've done a darned fine thing
If they just buy the girl a ring
Of imitation diamonds and platinum.


Isn't that hilarious? And yet it's perfectly true. The days of chivalry are dead, sadly; as well as the days when "a lady was a lady, and a gent was a perfect gent." Sometimes, I really wish I had been born in the Middle Ages. Think about it. Ladies were treated with respect, both by the knights [who followed the great law of chivalry, of course] and by themselves.




Those were the days of deep faith, solemn rituals, respected royalty; when ceremonies and knightings were honored, God-based events...


When a knight would ride to battle, encouraged by the love of his lady, and the love of his God...


When knights fought battles for their honor, loyalty, and their loved...[please ignore the telephone wires in the back of the above photo :P]...


When knights would risk all else to save a lady, especially the one he loved...
[And women wore such beautiful, ladylike dresses besides.]

I often sigh for those days.

Of course, the 1800's weren't so bad either...









Those were days of style and good taste; dancing and courting, walks in the lush countrysides and teacups...


Boy, don't you think the 21st century is missing something?


Pax,
Limwen

1 comment:

Galadriel said...

I can tell you what the 21st century is missing...real things.
Things that take time and effort
...real food, not McDonalds.
...real art, not Jackson Pollek
...Real men, not Edward Cullens

and lots of other real things

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