Stories from the other side

"If" was a poem told by Rudyard Kipling to his son John, who joined the army and later died fighting bravely. It tells about the Victorian-era values that young boys were supposed to inculcate in themselves.  If you can keep your head when all about you    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,    But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,    Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster    And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,   ...

His queen and her allies sent a weak King Henry VI away from the battlefield . While he sits in the forest alone, he looks upon a shepherd with envy. This is where he makes a speech comparing the life of a king with that of a common shepherd.  O God! methinks it were a happy life, To be no better than a homely swain; To sit upon a hill, as I do now, To carve out dials quaintly, point by point, Thereby to see the minutes how they run, How many make the hour full complete; How many hours bring about the day; How many days will finish up the year; How many years a mortal man may live. When this is known, then to divide the times: So many hours must I tend my flock; So many hours must I take my rest; So many hours must I contemplate; So many hours must I sport myself; So many days my ewes have been with young; So many weeks ere the poor fools will ean: So many years ere I shall shear the fleece: So minutes, hours, days, months, and years, Pass'd over to the end they were created, Woul...

Mark Antony gave his speech at the wake of Julius Caesar. At this time, Brutus had killed Caesar and called him a traitor to the Roman cause. He spoke first, and the common people had already gone over to Brutus's side. When Mark Antony stood for his speech, people would rather not hear him, but Brutus was so sure about people supporting him that he allowed it. The people were still shouting loudly when he began. This is where one of the most famous openings of the speech was created, and it is still followed by some orators. The speech was so effective that by the end of it, he had completely swayed all public support towards him. His effort is why Caesar is remembered as a hero and not a traitor and why Brutus is remembered as a murderer.  Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambi...