I just finished re-readin "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" for, well, I really can't hazard a quess as to what number of times. Safe to say, probably the hundreth. And, what have I gotten out it? Quite a bit, actually.
The beauty of it is that none of the following can be found in the book. They are merely referred to. Yet the characters are so firmly etched in your heart, that you want to know them on a deeper level. And, knowing what they are referring to is an obvious way of doing that.
I was ahead of the curve on "The Little Flower" because of my Grandmother. She'd already told me the stories of the Saints.
"Annie Laurie" was easy because I'd heard it somewhere before. It's a Scottish song, based on a poem by William Douglas, about his romance with Annie Laurie, with the tune added and words modified by Lady John Douglas Scott in 1834/5. I like to think it was a romantic collaboration.
And during my early teens I had to look up the two verses by Shakespeare shown below. Although I didn't understand them as fully then, as I do now at the age of 70.
At any rate; know your Bible, know your Darwin, Melville, Dickens, Poe, Hugo, Twain and Dostoyevsky, just to name a few of my favorite authors. But don't ever discount Betty Smith and "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." It was a gateway to greater literaure in my life.
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In the Catholic Church, "The Little Flower" is Saint Therese of Lisieux, a Discalced (Catholic friars or nuns who go barefoot or wear only sandals) Carmelite nun known for her simple message of holiness through everyday actions and her "Little Way" of spiritual childhood.
Marie Francoise-Therese Martin, known as Therese of the Child Jesus, lived from 1873 to 1897. Her life was short, but her impact enormous. Her Nickname is "The Little Flower".
Her spiritual teaching, known as "The Little Way," emphasizes that anyone can achieve holiness by performing ordinary actions with great love and trust in God, even in the smallest ways. Deed over Doctrine.
Her autobiography, "The Story of a Soul," is a testament to her simple yet profound spirituality.
Canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1925, her feast day is celebrated on October 1st. She is the patron saint of missions, florists, the sick, and those who are homeless.
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Annie Laurie
William Douglas | Lady John Scott
Maxwellton braes are bonnie
Where early fa’s the dew
And it’s there that Annie Laurie
Gied me her promise true
Gied me her promise true
Which ne’er forgot will be
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I’d lay me doon and dee
Her brow is like the snowdrift
Her neck it’s like the swan
Her face it is the fairest
That e’er the sun shone on
That e’er the sun shone on
And dark blue is her e’e
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I’d lay me doon and dee
Maxwellton braes are bonnie
Where early fa’s the dew
And it’s there that Annie Laurie
Gied me her promise true
Gied me her promise true
Which ne’er forgot will be
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I’d lay me doon and dee
Like dew on the gowan lying
Is the fa’ of her fairy feet
And like wind in summer sighing
Her voice is low and sweet
Her voice is low and sweet
She’s a’ the world to me
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I’d lay me doon and dee
Maxwellton braes are bonnie
Where early fa’s the dew
And it’s there that Annie Laurie
Gied me her promise true
Gied me her promise true
Which ne’er forgot will be
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I’d lay me doon and dee
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Macbeth
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.
William Shakespeare
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The Merchant of Venice (Portia's soliloquy.)
The quality of mercy is not strain'd.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptered sway.
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute to God Himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this:
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea,
Which, if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.
William Shakespeare
