'In Praise of a Contented Mind' by Edward De Vere (poetry reading)

In Elizabethan times, this poem was all the rage. They thought it portrayed an exemplary attitude to life. It was set to music by William Byrd.

At one time it was thought that Sir Edward Dyer wrote it, who was a chum of Sir Philip Sidney. Now it's thought to be by Edward de Vere.

It bears a marked similarity to John Byrom's poem that starts "I am content, I do not care". Byrom lived a few decades later but he would have been aware of this poem and it probably influenced him.

Edward de Vere is the most popular contender as the real author of Shakespeare's works, among those who think that Shakespeare's beginnings were too humble for him to have created such great stuff.

The model of Edward de Vere shown at the beginning and end is at Hedingham Castle.

My mind to me a kingdom is;
Such perfect joy therein I find
That it excels all other bliss
That world affords or grows by kind.
Though much I want which most men have,
Yet still my mind forbids to crave.

No princely pomp, no wealthy store,
No force to win the victory,
No wily wit to salve a sore,
No shape to feed each gazing eye;
To none of these I yield as thrall.
For why my mind doth serve for all.

I see how plenty suffers oft,
How hasty climbers soon do fall;
I see that those that are aloft
Mishap doth threaten most of all;
They get with toil, they keep with fear.
Such cares my mind could never bear.

Content I live, this is my stay;
I see no more than may suffice;
I press to bear no haughty sway;
Look what I lack my mind supplies;
Lo, thus I triumph like a king,
Content with that my mind doth bring.

Some have too much, yet still do crave;
I little have, and seek no more.
They are but poor, though much they have,
And I am rich with little store.
They poor, I rich; they beg, I give;
They lack, I leave; they pine, I live.

I laugh not at another's loss;
I grudge not at another's gain;
No worldly waves my mind can toss;
My state at one doth still remain.
I fear no foe, nor fawning friend;
I loathe not life, nor dread my end.

Some weigh their pleasure by their lust,
Their wisdom by their rage of will,
Their treasure is their only trust;
And cloaked craft their store of skill.
But all the pleasure that I find
Is to maintain a quiet mind.

My wealth is health and perfect ease;
My conscience clear my chief defense;
I neither seek by bribes to please,
Nor by deceit to breed offense.
Thus do I live; thus will I die.
Would all did so as well as I!

[evermoore]

Edward de Vere grew up in a literate home with the largest library in Europe. He was related to major literary figures. He had books dedicated to him and was praised as a poet and writer of the 'best' comedies. De Vere was a lawyer, a soldier, a courtier, a Privy Councillor AND most of all, he inherited a play company from his father and ran two others, besides owning a theatre. De Vere visited Italy where half the plays take place. This is sufficient to think he was intimately connected with the plays of Shakespeare, if not the writer. The man from Stratford is a blank slate about whom we know practically nothing.

[thepoet]

This is Avery nice piece, I love it . Great message in it .

[Jeremyramone]

excellent choice, one of my all time favorites, thanks kindly

[opssingh]

I love this poem since my School days & there after could not locate but found on this Great You Tube. Read it & enjoy.

[polymath]

"They get with toil, they keep with fear.
Such cares my mind could never bear"

I often wonder, due to phonetic drift, whether certain lines of poetry written earlier than roughly 1800 were intended as slanted rhyme or not. Sometimes it's obvious, where a slanted rhyme will clearly sound poetically off key, but here I'd say it's highly equivocal.

[almahernandez]

Love it..it pictures me and my man❤️❤️❤️

[SpokenVerse]

@thallassocracy Shakespeare examined human behaviour but he didn't write prescriptions. He tended to get stuck in turning the moment "to be or not to be" etc. It seems they had to feed him plots because he couldn't move things along. De Vere's nature was the very opposite to Shakespeare's, I'd say.

I'm not pleased with this reading. Simon Callow is a great reader, it's an honour to be mentioned in his company. Thanks for your support.

[johnalanhale]

Spokenverse, i have been having trouble differentiating Jacobean Poetry via Shakespeare and Elizabethan. If you please, could you help me clarify this?

[polymath]

@johnalanhale5 It's really quite simple; these are chronological terms.
"Elizabethan", naturally enough, means contemporaneous with the reign of Elizabeth the 1st; "Jacobean" with that of James the 1st (formerly James IV of Scotland) who succeeded Elizabeth to the English throne upon her death in (If memory serves) 1603.
As an interesting aside, "Macbeth" is thought to have been written for James IV, a pompous dolt who fancied himself a scholar and especial expert on the subject of witches

[polymath]

That (wax?) figure at the end -I wonder of it is based upon, or perhaps even made from- a death mask, skull, or complete preseved head, like the -I don't even know what you'd call it- of Jeremy Bentham in that Oxford hall...

[johnalanhale]

@polymath7 so, he was the one who spurred this thought on witchcraft, or at least excited and entertained the thought into the minds of others? I've read a little, not a whole lot. But if memory serves, i believe this idea became somewhat of a paradox on how to treat others and well taken into the Trial of the Salem with witches, where it prospered, sadly. Funny, he called himself a king, but ended as a murderer of future generations. lol

[johnalanhale]

@polymath7 ive heard about that, also, its deliciously skeptic to say that Marlowe was Shakespeare, how can that be if he was one of the things that inspired him, just a young boy getting started on writing plays. haha

[johnalanhale]

@polymath7 as a poet, i personally believe, if the condition of the poem matters as a priority, that would leave the content to waste. But yes, having an equal concern for both is highly essential. Seeing how detailed these artists were with their developments, lines, etc. By condition, i mean, of course, the format, or the structure, organized building blocks of literary foundation to the reader. But, nonetheless, it is all about appearances and the meaning that envelopes them.

[johnalanhale]

@polymath7 ive heard about that, also, its deliciously skeptical to say that Marlowe was Shakespeare, how can that be if he was one of the things that inspired him, ? just a young boy getting started on writing plays. haha
i love this resolve to embrace skeptism. But people take it way too far.

[johnalanhale]

@polymath7 sometimes i think shakespeare could have possibly been both an Elizabethan/Jacobean playwright/poet lol like John Donne lol haha they had to deal with alot of tension writing what they had wrote. Idk what james iv, but that is something new to me. :) i learned something today :D thanks for that interesting piece

[johnalanhale]

@polymath7 ingenious! perhaps, you could tell me more about this 'heathen who claimed the English throne'
He sounds like real pal. haha

[polymath]

Nice, but this guy sure as hell didn't write 'Twelfth Night', 'Hamlet' and 'King Lear'. It's hilarious the lengths to which Oxfordians (and other Shakespeare skeptics) will go to prove their idiotic hypotheses.
"..that *E. Vere, I, * was born to set it right...."

I once saw Tom Stoppard make a deliciously witty off the cuff remark remark about this kind of verbal astrology on the Charlie Rose show:

"Yes, well, Charlie Rose by any other name..."

[johnalanhale]

@polymath7 'Skeptism can be beneficial to seek those things we long to uncover, but it can lead to faithless, ignorant, blithering idiots if given the right person.'-Me

[thallassocracy]

Simon Callow thinks that this clown wrote Shakespeare. 48 lines to express what might have been said in 8.

Sadly, Callow's is still the best reading I own of the complete sonnets.

A lot of people depend on you.