NationStates Jolt Archive

well not official, nor necessarily a stoner (but i had to grab your attention somehow). The New Scientist (8th Jan, UK) reports on page 25:

"O thou weed so lovely

Experementation with drugs (known to Shakespeare as "compounds") seems to have been practised by pipe-smokers in 17th-century England, if results of chemical analyses of residues from pipe bowls from Stratford-upon-Avon are anything to go by (13 November 2004, p32). Literary evidence is also suggestive of this practice, especially when one examines Shakespeare's sonnets carefully. These poems refer to a "noted weed" (perhaps cannabis) in the context of creative writing. The sonneteer prefers the "weed", turning away from "compounds strange". Further, he writes of its ability "to make my appetite more keen", and there is absolutley no doubt that cannabis is an appetite stimulant.
It would seem highly probable that Shakespeare and other writers (including Francis Bacon, who referred to a "despised weed") were deliberatley cryptic abou cannabis after the Church condemned it, associating this plant with witchcraft. To have one's writings associated with the wicked weed could have lead to the burning of [Shakespeare's] books..."

source (http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18524814.200)

He was so fecking incredible that I don't really care if he shot himself up with every drug known to man.

He was so fecking incredible that I don't really care if he shot himself up with every drug known to man.
woah im not passing judgement here... just think its kinda cool is all :p

woah im not passing judgement here... just think its kinda cool is all :p
Indeed. Often times with great artists, including poetic ones such as Shakespeare, I wonder if they had a drug problem because their work is just so incredibly creative! Sometimes it turns out that they actually did use drugs, as Shakespeare may have. But others, like Salvador Dali, didn't.

That explains alot

Indeed. Often times with great artists, including poetic ones such as Shakespeare, I wonder if they had a drug problem because their work is just so incredibly creative! Sometimes it turns out that they actually did use drugs, as Shakespeare may have. But others, like Salvador Dali, didn't.
Wow, I would have suspected him first!
:p

You know, everytime I try to read something written by Sheakespeare I come to the conclusion the man was on something. Just look at how he carries on for a single character, lines ranging to a maximum of like a hundred. Nobody in real life, then -or- now, could have possibly had so much to say in a single, unrelenting blob of speech. (Now, I do not refer to formal speeches and so forth, merely everyday jabber between say, you and I).

And as I've claimed Shakespeare was a drug addict all along, I'm not surprised to see this come up.

Then again, I never trust any of the "News" articles that are circulated by members here because every time I've gone to the source of the article its looked hokey.

'Kay, I am finished here.

Wow, I would have suspected him first!
:p
Believe me, you aren't alone...

You know, everytime I try to read something written by Sheakespeare I come to the conclusion the man was on something. Just look at how he carries on for a single character, lines ranging to a maximum of like a hundred. Nobody in real life, then -or- now, could have possibly had so much to say in a single, unrelenting blob of speech. (Now, I do not refer to formal speeches and so forth, merely everyday jabber between say, you and I).
You not familiar with soliloquies are you? It was poetic prose, and that was why it was so long. It is the language that is so enjoyable. He also wrote epic poems, which were really fecking long. Extremely.

Not surprised.

Even some of the best songs in the world, those guys were all high on something. Brings out the creativity part of your brain.

Sweet, good to know he enjoyed a choof.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge freely admitted that when he wrote Xanadu he was stoned on opium and he didn't finish the poem because someone interupted him and broke his "trance."

I'm surprised no-one has yet, even just to shoot it down, made reference to the widespread claims that Shakespeare didn't write all of the work that's credited to him. It's more likely that another writer of the time - most point to Christopher Marlowe - wrote the work, and then for whatever reason, allowed Shakespeare's name to be put to it. The most convincing argument I've heard is that Marlowe was in severe debt to Shakespeare (who was probably a merchant - the only statue of him in Stratford-upon-Avon shows him as such) and so wrote the work to pay back Shakespeare.

Dubya did coke! Who cares?
Shakespeare smoked pot! Who cares?
I smoke pot! Who cares?

Hmm. What rhymes with "pass the dutchie" besides "throughout the Grand Duchy"?

p.s. Shakespeare died in 1616.

I knew it. I thought there was something odd about Romeo and Juliet.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge freely admitted that when he wrote Xanadu he was stoned on opium and he didn't finish the poem because someone interupted him and broke his "trance."

Stoned on laudanum ... yes, I am a pedant.

apparently he was gay or at least bisexual....

official: Shakespeare was a pothead
And there I was thinking that it was his used of poetry and archaic language that made reading his plays in school very difficult. Now I know the truth!

Indeed. Often times with great artists, including poetic ones such as Shakespeare, I wonder if they had a drug problem because their work is just so incredibly creative! Sometimes it turns out that they actually did use drugs, as Shakespeare may have. But others, like Salvador Dali, didn't.

Dali was fucked up enough to not need any chemical augmentation.

Brilliant artist though.

Wasn't it Dali who said, "I don't do drugs, I am drugs"?

Actually, you want wacky, try French surrealist literature. It's...thoroughly bizarre. For example, one writer named Robert Desnos decided that since the truth existed in the unconscious, and the easiest way to access the unconscious is through sleep and dreaming, he would sleep 24/7. He slept for about two years, I think, only waking up occasionally to eat and then go back to sleep. I'm not sure if buy all the 'automatic writing' though, because there would be more misspellings and things if you wrote in a trance and didn't edit it. But I digress.

Dali would stay awake for 3 or 4 days and then start painting... I saw his museum in Vienna a few years back. *Weird* stuff!!

As for Shakespeare, I'd be surprised if it actually was cannibis, that plant not actually being native to England, and unlikely to have been brought from South America at that time.
I'd find it more likely they experimented with mace, nutmeg or any number of other endemic plants. ;)

A lot of artists seem to their best work when stoned or drunk.
Plenty of music artists are stoned or drunk when performing live.

:)

didn't Lewis Carroll write Alice in Wonderland standing up with a hashish pipe in his hand?

Dali would stay awake for 3 or 4 days and then start painting... I saw his museum in Vienna a few years back. *Weird* stuff!!

As for Shakespeare, I'd be surprised if it actually was cannibis, that plant not actually being native to England, and unlikely to have been brought from South America at that time.
I'd find it more likely they experimented with mace, nutmeg or any number of other endemic plants. ;)
Cannabis came to Europe from Asia and the Middle East a looooong time before Shakespeare..

It's more likely that another writer of the time - most point to Christopher Marlowe - wrote the work, and then for whatever reason, allowed Shakespeare's name to be put to it.
Having read quite a bit of Marlowe's work, this argument seems sillier and sillier (not pointing to you directly, Stalin) - the two's work are completely different. Shakespeare has clearly taken a great deal of influence--into the realms of pastiche, even--of his forebear Marlowe's work; but the writing styles of Shakespeare and Marlowe differ wildly. Not that Marlowe didn't have an interesting life: there is quite a lot of well-publicised speculation that he was involved in some sort of espionage, and that this was the motivation for his murder (or state-sponsored asassination, if you like that theory)

Heh, it doesn't surprise me; I've heard of the possibility he is bisexual

Cannabis came to Europe from Asia and the Middle East a looooong time before Shakespeare..

I'm not sure about a long time, but if hemp paper was really produced in England in 1494, I'll concede that the plant was there for Shakespeare to experiment with. :)

http://www.ukcia.org/culture/history/chrono.html

Not surprised.

Even some of the best songs in the world, those guys were all high on something. Brings out the creativity part of your brain.
A lot of artists seem to their best work when stoned or drunk.
Plenty of music artists are stoned or drunk when performing live.
Bullshit

This is the all too common myth of the stoned artist. People who are high think they have created something wonderful only to find out the next day what they created was shit.

This just perpetuates the false idea that art is easy. It isn't. Artists of all types who have created something truly unique and original did it through study, practice, experimentation and hard work.

This is the all too common myth of the stoned artist. People who are high think they have created something wonderful only to find out the next day what they created was shit.
No, that would be wrong. That's only true for crappy artists. For good ones, psychoactives enchance.

No, that would be wrong. That's only true for crappy artists. For good ones, psychoactives enchance.
Sorry, but it is a fantasy that you can get stoned or drunk and produce great art. Even artists and writers with substance abuse problems produced their great work straight.

I'm sorry to burst this little bubble, but how does this actually relate to Shakespeare? Shakespeare wrote the vast majority of his work (including his most famous plays) in London between 1592 - 1611 or so. He returned to Stratford upon Avon in retirement where it was believed that he was suffering from some illness. Besides, what evidence is there that Shakesy has anything to do with these bowls?

Sorry, but it is a fantasy that you can get stoned or drunk and produce great art. Even artists and writers with substance abuse problems produced their great work straight.

I'd have to disagree. Just look at:
Eric Clapton. His best stuff was with Cream, while high on heroin.
Aerosmith. Their best music was made on cocaine/alcohol.
John Coltrane.
McCartney/Lennon.
etc.
The list could go on forever. MOST artists of any type enjoy some sort "high". Wether it leads to greater creativity or is just a character trait can be argued, but history shows the truth. There's a line on one of the band Tool's albums by a comedian (sorry, don't know who) that says,"Those of you who are against drugs, go home and throw away every album that you own. 'Cause all those guys made that music while really effed up."

I'd have to disagree. Just look at:
Eric Clapton. His best stuff was with Cream, while high on heroin.
Aerosmith. Their best music was made on cocaine/alcohol.
John Coltrane.
McCartney/Lennon.
etc.
The list could go on forever. MOST artists of any type enjoy some sort "high". Wether it leads to greater creativity or is just a character trait can be argued, but history shows the truth. There's a line on one of the band Tool's albums by a comedian (sorry, don't know who) that says,"Those of you who are against drugs, go home and throw away every album that you own. 'Cause all those guys made that music while really effed up."

Aerosmith's biggest hits ("Dream On," "Walk This Way," "Sweet Emotion" and "Janie's Got a Gun", "Love in an Elevator,"' "What It Takes," "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing") both preceeded and followed their drug using period. What did they produce stoned? The albums Draw the Line, Night in the Ruts, and Rock and a Hard Place - all of which bombed. I saw Aerosmith during the height of their drug using phase and it was one of the worst concerts I have ever seen. Steven Tyler kept singing lyrics out of order and got confused as to which song he was singing. The entire set last about 45 minutes and even that was painful to watch.

McCartny and Lennon did not write their songs stoned, and you may recall that Miles Davis fired John Coltrane because his heroin use was affecting his performance on the band stand. It was only AFTER he kicked his habit that he joined Thelonious Monk's band and was later rehired by Miles. Eric Clapton's work with the Yardbirds and Cream PRECEEDED his heroin addiction. It was in the seventies that Clapton became addicted to heroin and as a result withdrew from the spotlight, producing very little.

Even artists who used alcohol or other drugs rarely created work while stoned.

Umm, IIRC, Jimi Hendrix.

Personally I've never got stoned, but I know that when I'm drunk I think I know everything and feel incredibly creative. Usually, though, I wake up the next day and realise I had been talking utter trollop.

Incidentally, just performed in Romeo & Juliet and having got to know it now I realise it's a fantastic play. Before I wasn't certain (because it's become a bit of a cliche) but now I'm a big fan.

bump