Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

Do so; and after two days

I will discharge thee.

 

-Prospero

The Tempest                   Act I, Scene ii, Line 298

‘Do so? do what?’, you might ask. Ariel (that’s who Prospero is speaking with) has just said,

        I will be correspondent to command,

        And do my spiriting gently.

So, Ariel's going to do his spiriting gently, and in turn Prospero will give him his freedom.

Now that’s just a lovely turn of phrase. Did you ever hear anyone respond to you that they would be correspondent to command. Of course, I guess the word command has a bit of a strong vibe to it; perhaps a bit too strong for modern sensibilities (which can be very sensitive). If we’re going to use this line (and I certainly think we should), perhaps we should amend it slightly. I will be correspondent to …request? Hmmm, that’s not quite right. Demand? Ummm, no.

Well, for now, I’ll just stick to the original, and perhaps include the spiriting gently part.

Every once in a while, I manage to come up with the perfect pic, and today is one of those whiles.

Imagine, if you will, that my associate and I are at the airport waiting for our luggage to come out. He's asked me to grab the bags when they come, because he's got to go use the men's room. And my reply is,

I will be correspondent to command

and do my spiriting gently.

This would be the exact look he would give me.