Mojo, The Bard, & Me

This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth

The tender leaves of hope; to-morrow blossoms,

And bears his blushing honors thick upon him;

The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,

And – when he thinks, good easy man, full surely

His greatness is a-ripening—nips his root,

And then he falls, as I do.



-Cardinal Wolsey



King Henry The Eighth                 Act III, scene ii, line 353





This is a splendid couple of lines. It’s Wolsey reflecting. He’s alone, and he’s just learned that he’s fallen out of Henry’s favor and about to be shown the door, or possibly worse. I’m going to give you his whole soliloquy. It’s only twenty-three lines; I think you can handle it.

The line previous to it, spoken by Norfolk immediately before he leaves the room is

     So fare you well, my little good lord Cardinal.

Note the word little. Norfolk is being a bit nasty. As soon as he is alone Wolsey responds with



So farewell to the little good you bear me.

Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness!

This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth

The tender leaves of hope; to-morrow blossoms,

And bears his blushing honors thick upon him;

The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,

And – when he thinks, good easy man, full surely

His greatness is a-ripening—nips his root,

And then he falls, as I do. I have ventured,

Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,

This many summers in a sea of glory;

But far beyond my depth: my high-blown pride

At length broke under me; and now has left me,

Weary and old with service, to the mercy

Of a rude stream, that must forever hide me.

Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye:

I feel my heart new open’d. O, how wretched

Is that that poor man that hangs on princes’ favours!

There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to,

That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin,

More pangs and fears than wars or women have;

And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,

Never to hope again.



Wow, there’s a lot going on there. First the stages of greatness compared to a flowers life, then the floating on a sea of glory imagery, then the stuff about princes’ favour, and ending with the fate/fall of Lucifer. Well you can’t sink too much lower than the fate of Lucifer, can you?


Now I try pretty hard to avoid getting political, but I sometimes I just can’t help myself. Nonetheless, I’ll keep it short and simple. When he starts talking about hanging on princes’ favour I began to think of the many people in DC over the past few years that might have felt the way Wolsey feels as they were shown the door. 
Well, what does this passage make you think of?

I don't know; somehow I thought this picture fit in. With all the talk of fame and glory (it's a pretty famous place), and blossoms with killing frosts (see the snow?), and the stream (hard to miss the stream); well this seemed to fit them all. No?