Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Press Cuttings and The Dark Lady of the Sonnets
    Press Cuttings and The Dark Lady of the Sonnets
    Press Cuttings and The Dark Lady of the Sonnets
    Ebook66 pages1 hour

    Press Cuttings and The Dark Lady of the Sonnets

    By George Bernard Shaw

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) is revered as one of the great British dramatists, credited not only with memorable works, but the revival of the then-suffering English theatre. Shaw was born in Dublin, Ireland, left mostly to his own devices after his mother ran off to London to pursue a musical career. He educated himself for the most part, and eventually worked for a real estate agent. This experience founded in him a concern for social injustices, seeing poverty and general unfairness afoot, and would go on to address this in many of his works. In 1876, Shaw joined his mother in London where he would finally attain literary success, and went on to win the Nobel Prize for literature in 1925. Contained in this volume are two of Shaw's lesser known works: "Press Cuttings" published in 1909 and "The Dark Lady of Sonnets" published in 1910.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigireads.com Publishing
    Release dateJan 1, 2011
    ISBN9781420920017
    Press Cuttings and The Dark Lady of the Sonnets
    Author

    George Bernard Shaw

    George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin in 1856 and moved to London in 1876. He initially wrote novels then went on to achieve fame through his career as a journalist, critic and public speaker. A committed and active socialist, he was one of the leaders of the Fabian Society. He was a prolific and much lauded playwright and was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. He died in 1950.

    Read more from George Bernard Shaw

    Related to Press Cuttings and The Dark Lady of the Sonnets

    Related ebooks

    Performing Arts For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Letter Boks

      Feb 4, 2021

      I READ that Christopher Columbus was 41 years old when he went to America, and as a consequence everyone celebrates him to this day. I was 25 when I first landed on the East Coast of the USA, and yet not one book has been written about me despite the

      18 min read

    • Article

      A Reflection Of The Public

      Aug 29, 2023

      A Reflection Of The Public
      19 min read

    • Article

      Bird’s Words

      Sep 26, 2022

      I listened to the funeral on the radio in my garden. As I sat I pictured the route, knowing every corner, every old building from my decades of working, drinking, loitering, even sleeping rough within its crevices and crevasses. I much preferred the

      3 min read

    • Article

      Bird’s Words

      Nov 13, 2023

      Although there was a lack of trees and any evidence of nature in my Notting Hill slums as a child, there were a large number of horses. Horses were everywhere in the stables of West London’s Notting Hill and Paddington. They were the large cart horse

      3 min read

    • Article

      Bird’s Words

      Jul 18, 2022

      Last week, as the contest to become the new leader of the government began, I met an MP who told me of her choice. She was going to vote for ____ because she believed that ____ had all the signs of common sense, honesty, integrity, commitment, dilige

      3 min read

    • Article

      Just Acting up

      Sep 25, 2023

      Just when you thought the election campaign couldn’t get even more bonkers, it got even more bonkers at Act’s campaign launch at Auckland’s Civic Theatre. They’d already had what everyone thought was their campaign launch back in June at the SkyCity

      4 min read

    • Article

      What To Say To A Rude Person

      Feb 26, 2018

      RECENTLY, AS THE BRITISH DOCTOR LORD Robert Winston took a train from London to Manchester, he found himself becoming steadily enraged. A woman had picked up her phone and begun a loud conversation, which would last an unbelievable hour. Furious, Win

      2 min read

    • Article

      Cruel Means, Bitter Ends

      Nov 10, 2021

      “In order for this speech to mean anything to me, I’ll need to dispense with the usual demagoguery and, instead, make an attempt at honesty. With this in mind, there is one thing I have to make clear. I’m not in this race to serve your interests, but

      12 min read

    • Article

      The Wrong Trousers

      May 21, 2023

      There is nothing so soul-sapping as pondering a political poll. You wonder who does ponder them. Presumably that chap in a suit who is slightly ahead of that other chap in a suit in the popularity stakes. Until the next poll in which, quite possibly,

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Wrong Trousers

      May 21, 2023

      There is nothing so soul-sapping as pondering a political poll. You wonder who does ponder them. Presumably that chap in a suit who is slightly ahead of that other chap in a suit in the popularity stakes. Until the next poll in which, quite possibly,

      4 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Oct 8, 2020

      Thank you for making my life more joyful month after month. I can’t tell you how important to me the Fortean Times is. Kevin Hope By email Regarding Matt Salusbury’s Forum article on sunken bells [FT396:54-55], there is more to the bells of Aberdyfi

      14 min read

    • Article

      The Book of Loki

      Mar 12, 2018

      The Book of Loki
      20 min read

    • Article

      Retiring Gossip Girl

      Jul 28, 2021

      In the first few minutes of GB News, Mr Andrew Neil broadcast something as if it was intimately tailored to his intended audience, all of whose inside-leg measurements he knew already. His channel would not be peddling ‘gossip from inside the Westmin

      3 min read

    • Article

      Sight For Sore Eyes

      Mar 26, 2023

      Here’s a tip for politicians: if there is any possibility you’re going to do dumb things – and it’s always a possibility – don’t post clips online of yourself lifting dumbbells in the parliamentary gym. And especially do not caption your post with th

      4 min read

    • Article

      Dawn Neesom Mind Of My Own

      May 10, 2022

      Dawn Neesom Mind Of My Own
      3 min read

    • Article

      Georges Clemenceau

      Aug 2, 2023

      Georges Clemenceau
      7 min read

    • Article

      Memories Of A Miracle

      Dec 1, 2023

      Memories Of A Miracle
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Trouble Gene

      Jul 1, 2020

      One clear thing about trouble—it can set you back to zero, a personal cone of silence. And reading, writing, listening allow entry into that troubled solitude; you disappear into it regardless t of the time or place you really are in, be it bed, kitc

      12 min read

    • Article

      Chris & Me Up A Tree

      May 28, 2023

      That faint, far-off rumbling you can hear is Wellington’s rumour mill grinding away gleefully as usual. This mill puts you in mind of those pretend telephones primary-school kids would cobble together with tin cans and bits of string. They were used

      4 min read

    • Article

      Chris & Me Up A Tree

      May 28, 2023

      That faint, far-off rumbling you can hear is Wellington’s rumour mill grinding away gleefully as usual. This mill puts you in mind of those pretend telephones primary-school kids would cobble together with tin cans and bits of string. They were used

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Press Cuttings and The Dark Lady of the Sonnets

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Press Cuttings and The Dark Lady of the Sonnets - George Bernard Shaw

      PRESS CUTTINGS

      AND

      THE DARK LADY OF THE SONNETS

      BY GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

      A Digireads.com Book

      Digireads.com Publishing

      Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-4129-6

      Ebook ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-2001-7

      This edition copyright © 2011

      Please visit www.digireads.com

      CONTENTS

      PRESS CUTTINGS

      THE DARK LADY OF THE SONNETS

      PRESS CUTTINGS

      The forenoon of the first of April, 1911.

      General Mitchener is at his writing table in the War Office, opening letters. On his left is the fireplace, with a fire burning. On his right, against the opposite wall is a standing desk with an office stool. The door is in the wall behind him, half way between the table and the desk. The table is not quite in the middle of the room: it is nearer to the hearthrug than to the desk. There is a chair at each end of it for persons having business with the general. There is a telephone on the table.

      Long silence.

      A VOICE OUTSIDE. Votes for Women!

      The General starts convulsively; snatches a revolver from a drawer, and listens in an agony of apprehension. Nothing happens. He puts the revolver back, ashamed; wipes his brow; and resumes his work. He is startled afresh by the entry of an Orderly. This Orderly is an unsoldierly, slovenly, discontented young man.

      MITCHENER. Oh, it's only you. Well?

      THE ORDERLY. Another one, sir. She's chained herself.

      MITCHENER. Chained herself? How? To what? We've taken away the railings and everything that a chain can be passed through.

      THE ORDERLY. We forgot the doorscraper, sir. She laid down on the flags and got the chain through before she started hollerin. She's lying there now; and she says that you've got the key of the padlock in a letter in a buff envelope, and that you will see her when you open it.

      MITCHENER. She's mad. Have the scraper dug up and let her go home with it hanging round her neck.

      THE ORDERLY. There's a buff envelope there, sir.

      MITCHENER. You're all afraid of these women (picking the letter up). It does seem to have a key in it. (He opens the letter, and takes out a key and a note.) Dear Mitch—Well, I'm dashed!

      THE ORDERLY. Yes Sir.

      MITCHENER. What do you mean by Yes Sir?

      THE ORDERLY. Well, you said you was dashed, Sir; and you did look if you'll excuse my saying it, Sir—well, you looked it.

      MITCHENER [who has been reading the letter, and is too astonished to attend to the Orderlys reply.] This is a letter from the Prime Minister asking me to release the woman with this key if she padlocks herself, and to have her shown up and see her at once.

      THE ORDERLY [tremulously.] Don't do it, governor.

      MITCHENER [angrily.] How often have I ordered you not to address me as governor. Remember that you are a soldier and not a vulgar civilian. Remember also that when a man enters the army he leaves fear behind him. Here's the key. Unlock her and show her up.

      THE ORDERLY. Me unlock her! I dursent. Lord knows what she'd do to me.

      MITCHENER [pepperily, rising.] Obey your orders instantly, Sir, and don't presume to argue. Even if she kills you, it is your duty to die for your country. Right about face. March. [The Orderly goes out, trembling.]

      THE VOICE OUTSIDE. Votes for Women! Votes for Women! Votes for Women!

      MITCHENER [mimicking her.] Votes for Women! Votes for Women! Votes for Women! [in his natural voice] Votes for children! Votes for babies! Votes for monkeys! [He posts himself on the hearthrug, and awaits the enemy.]

      THE ORDERLY [outside.] In you go. [He pushes a panting Suffraget into the room.] The person sir. [He withdraws.]

      The Suffraget takes off her tailor made skirt and reveals a pair of fashionable trousers.

      MITCHENER [horrified.] Stop, madam. What are you doing? You must not undress in my presence. I protest. Not even your letter from the Prime Minister—

      THE SUFFRAGET. My dear Mitchener: I AM the Prime Minister. [He tears off his hat and cloak; throws them on the desk; and confronts the General in the ordinary costume of a Cabinet minister.]

      MITCHENER. Good heavens! Balsquith!

      BALSQUITH [throwing himself into Mitchener's chair.] Yes: it is indeed Balsquith. It has come to this: that the only way that the Prime Minister of England can get from Downing Street to the War Office is by assuming this disguise; shrieking VOTES FOR WOMEN; and chaining himself to your doorscraper. They were at the corner in force. They cheered me. Bellachristina herself was there. She shook my hand and told me to say I was a vegetarian, as the diet was better in Holloway for vegetarians.

      MITCHENER. Why didn't you telephone?

      BALSQUITH. They tap the telephone. Every switchboard in London is in their hands or in those of their young men.

      MITCHENER. Where on Earth did you get that dress?

      BALSQUITH. I stole it from a little Exhibition got up by my wife in Downing Street.

      MITCHENER. You don't mean to say it's a French dress?

      BALSQUITH. Great Heavens, no. My wife isn't allowed even to put on her gloves with French chalk.

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1