Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-04-23-Speech-4-222"
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"en.20090423.58.4-222"2
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"Today we mark the anniversary of the greatest of all Englishmen and perhaps the greatest dramatist and writer mankind has produced. It is a characteristic of Shakespeare’s work that, whatever experiences we carry to them, they always illuminate our experiences more than our experiences illuminate the plays. I can do no better today than to quote John of Gaunt’s dying speech from
which not only beautifully describes our budgetary problems in Britain but also our situation here in Europe.
That England that was wont to conquer others
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself.’
If there is a better description than that, I have yet to hear it.
First, on the budget:
‘This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land [...]
Is now leased out – I die pronouncing it – like to a tenement or pelting farm.’
But then listen to his description of the Lisbon Treaty or European Constitution:
‘England, bound in with the triumphant sea
Whose rocky shore beats back the watery siege
Of envious Neptune, is now bound in with shame
With inky blots and rotten parchment bonds."@en1
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"Richard II"1
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The resource appears as object in 2 triples