I, that please some, try all, both joy and terror
Of
good and bad, that makes and unfolds error,
Now
take upon me, in the name of Time,
To
use my wings. Impute it not a crime
To
me or my swift passage, that I slide
O’er
sixteen years and leave the growth untried
Of
that wide gap, since it is in my power
To
o’erthrow law and in one self-born hour
To
plant and o’erwhelm custom. Let me pass
The
same I am, ere ancient’st order was
Or
what is now received: I witness to
The
times that brought them in; so shall I do
To
the freshest things now reigning and make stale
The
glistering of this present, as my tale
Now
seems to it. Your patience this allowing,
I
turn my glass and give my scene such growing
As
you had slept between: Leontes leaving,
The
effects of his fond jealousies so grieving
The
he shuts up himself, imagine me,
Gentle
spectators, that I now may be
In
fair Bohemia, and remember well,
I
mentioned a son o’ the king’s, which Florizel
I
now name to you; and with speed so pace
To
speak of Perdita, now grown in grace
Equal
with wondering: what of her ensues
I
list not prophecy; but let Time’s news
Be
known when ‘tis brought forth.
A
shepherd’s daughter,
And
what to her adheres, which follows after,
Is
the argument of Time. Of this allow,
If
ever you have spent time worse ere now;
If
never, yet that Time himself doth say
He
wishes earnestly you never may.
-Time, the Chorus
The Winter’s Tale
Act IV, Prologue,
Line 19
There, that’s the whole prologue to Act IV. Somehow it seemed shorter before I started typing it. The short version? Time is here to tell us that sixteen years have passed. Leontes has spent the time alone and grieving. His daughter (presumed dead by him) has grown up in Bohemia with a shepherd foster father. And finally, Florizel, the son of Polixenes, has also grown up.
So, the person speaking this prologue is Time. I like that. It automatically made me think of Jackson Browne’s song Time the Conqueror. So here, since you did such a good job reading the entire prologue, I’ll give you Jackson’s song. Then you can write a short essay on what you found to be the same or different between what the prologue has to say and what Jackson’s song says.
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