Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

See, see, King Richard doth himself appear,

As doth the blushing discontented sun

From out the fiery portal of the east,

When he perceives the envious clouds are bent

To dim his glory, and to stain the track

Of his bright passage to the occident.

 

Duke of York

King Richard the Second        Act III, Scene iii, Line 66

 

Okay, fairly long line today, but eminently understandable, wouldn’t you agree? The Duke of York, here, is talking to Bolingbroke, the guy who’s about to supplant Richard and become Henry IV. York is the uncle to both of these fellows, and he’s sort of on the fence. He’s standing with Bolingbroke looking up at the castle, but he’s not crazy about the idea of deposing Richard. Richard is on the ramparts looking down on them. Richard knows, at this point, where this whole deal is headed.

I had to look up the word occident. I thought it meant the east when in fact it’s exactly the opposite. I should have realized that by the context since the sun does not usually set in the east.

Anyways, I think it’s a pretty apt passage, describing Richard’s awareness of his imminent downfall. I mean, honestly, how can you not appreciate this use of the English language? Read it again, and I hope you’ll agree. It's not Dante's inferno people, it's six lines written in perfectly comprehensible English. Here it is, so that you don't have to go to the trouble of paging all the way back to the top of this post.

See, see, King Richard doth himself appear,

As doth the blushing discontented sun

From out the fiery portal of the east,

When he perceives the envious clouds are bent

To dim his glory, and to stain the track

Of his bright passage to the occident. 

 

Mojo and I took the opportunity this morning to read scene three (it's a relatively short scene) whilst we listened to our Arkangel recording of it. We find that it's always much more enjoyable to hear the words whilst reading them. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Where are they? Gone?—Let this pernicious hour

Stand aye accursed in the calendar!-

Come in, without there

 

Macbeth

Macbeth                          Act IV, Scene i, Line 134

 

Well, that doesn’t sound very positive, does it? This is our buddy Macbeth reacting to the visions of the future that the witches have just provided him. Now they’ve vanished and Lennox is about to enter.

That’s a pretty heavy exclamation. Let this pernicious hour stand aye accursed in the calendar.

Well, happily for me, that’s not the way I feel about my current hour, or, hopefully, any hour. I guess it’s good to be me, and not be Macbeth.

I was trying to come up with an appropriate it's good to be me pic. I came up with an endless list of why it's good to be me, but not an endless list of pics. So I'm giving you a pic of my latest Blackwing Volume. 

Simple pleasures, and it's good to be me.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 

No, sir; their hats are pluckt about their ears,

And half their faces buried in their cloaks,

That by no means may I discover them

By any mark of favour.

 

Lucius

Julius Caesar          Act II, Scene i, Line 73

 

 

This is Lucius’s answer to Brutus who’s asking the former if he knows who the guys who at the door are. And how does Brutus respond to Lucius?
Let ‘em in.

That’s right. Not Let them enter, or even let them in; just let 'em in. That seems pretty slangy for old Will. 

And once again, what’s with the hats in old Rome. I really need to see one of these hats. I just can’t picture a guy in a toga with a hat on. Can you?

Well, now wait just a minute. Here's my young associate in a rain poncho, which you might just say resembles a toga, with a hat on. And a fine chapeau it is!

Do you suppose the fellows at Brutus's door had hats like this?

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

But by ten words, my lord, it is too long,

Which makes it tedious; for in all the play

There is not one word apt, one player fitted:  

 

Philostrate

A Midsummer Night’s Dream         Act V, Scene i, Line 64

 

Philostrate is talking about the play that Peter Quince and his buddies have prepared for them.

One has to wonder (or at least I do) if Will was being self-deprecating when he talks about the poor quality of the play.

Is’t possible?

Speaking of self-deprecating, I want to get one of these outfits. Not that I have a use for it, but it's just one of the coolest get-ups I've ever seen. 

 

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Upon his hurt she looks so steadfastly,

That her sight dazzling makes the wound seem three;

And then she reprehends her mangling eye,

That makes more gashes where no breach should be;

His face seems twain, each several limb is doubled;

For oft the eye mistakes, the brain being troubled.

 

 

Narrator

Venus and Adonis                  Line 1068

 

Yup, I gave you a whole stanza of the poem. I guess I could have just given you the line, but what’s the fun in that?

This is Venus looking at Adonis who’s been gored by the wild boar. I think her lover is dead at this point. This stanza seems to be saying that she is seeing things even worse than they are, that all his wounds seem multiplied by her grief.

Does that make sense? If you looked at someone you loved who had been mauled to death by a wild animal would you be seeing it worse than it was? I dunno; I guess so.

For oft the eye mistakes, the brain being troubled. 

That's a good line. let's let that be our takeaway for today. Okay?

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

I thought as much.

 

 

Cleon

Pericles                   Act I, Scene iv, Line 62

 

He thought as much. He thought what? He thought that the ships on the horizon were coming as conquerors. He was wrong. The ships on the horizon were coming with food to aid them in their time of famine.
So he thought he thought as much, but what he thought was not what was, in fact, what was.

What do you think about that?

I think it would have been pretty cool for Pericles to show up in a ship like this one. 

Can't you just see him leaning off the bow in front yelling,

"I'm the king of the world!

And I've brought a whole bunch of corn!" 

 

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 

Nay. In that you are astray, ‘twere best pound you.

 

Proteus

Two Gentlemen of Verona              Act I Scene i, Line 110

 

And here we are at the beginning of the play. Yesterday we were at the end. Today’s line is part of an interchange between Proteus and Speed. The latter just delivered a love letter to Julia for Proteus, and they are discussing her response which, apparently, was a non-response.

Rather than get into the wordplay of this exchange, I thought it might be interesting to note that yesterday, in Act V near the end of the play, Proteus is all about Silvia. Today, in Act I at the beginning, he’s all about Julia. This is similar in that respect to another of Will’s more famous plays where in Act I the titular hero is in love with Rosaline and in Act V he dies with his lover Juliet. That’s right, I’m talking about Romeo and Juliet.

I don’t think we ever find out what happened to Julia or Rosaline. They become forgotten ladies. Hopefully they both found happiness elsewhere.   

I came across this picture yesterday. That's a younger me with Grumpy Bear in her Little Red Riding Hood outfit. We were at some event at Quinnipiac, but that's not why I picked this picture for today. 

See that woman on the right, smiling at the camera? She's not with us, even though for all the world it appears that she is. I have no idea who she is. 

So, in the story of this picture, she is the forgotten lady. Hopefully she found happiness with that guy behind her (the guy with the tree growing out of his head), but we'll never know. Will we? 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

  

What dangerous action, stood it next to death,

Would I not undergo for one calm look.

Proteus

Two Gentlemen of Verona              Act V, Scene iv, Line 41

 

Proteus is talking to Silvia, who he’s in love with but who loves Valentine (I think). She’s upset with Proteus, so I guess it’s one calm look from her that he’s talking about. He would undergo anything for one calm look from her: doesn’t even need to be a smile, just one calm look.

I dunno, I think if I was going to have to undergo anything, presumably something pretty bad, I’d want to get at least a smile. But that’s just me, I guess.

There's a smile!

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 

Take  my cap, Jupiter, and I thank thee.—Hoo! Marcius coming home!

  

Menenius Agrippa

Coriolanus                      Act II, Scene i, Line 108

 

It looks like Menenius is glad to hear that Caius Marcius Coriolanus is coming home. The latter is coming home from battle where he nearly single-handedly captured the town of Corioli. This is how he got the name Coriolanus, but Menenius doesn’t know about this yet, so he is calling him by his given name which is Caius Marcius or just Marcius.

One of the versions I looked at had the stage direction of throws cap into the air after the name Jupiter. I'm having a bit of a hard time trying to picture what kind of cap a Roman would have been wearing.

       

This is the hat I wore today. It's my rain hat because, well, it's raining. It seems very doubtful that Menenius would have had a hat like this. 

But who knows? 

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 Come to the Centaur; fetch our stuff from thence:

I long that we were safe and sound aboard.

  

Antipholus of Syracuse

The Comedy of Errors                    Act IV, Scene iv, Line 148

 

I believe the Centaur is the inn they are staying at. Antipholus is talking to Dromio and he’s had just about enough of Ephesus. He wants out. He wants to be safe and sound aboard the vessel leaving town. 

Interesting that the phrase safe and sound has found its way safely to 2023 without any change in form or meaning. It’s funny, because we don’t much use the word sound in the sense of whole and intact very much anymore. But we certainly use the words safe and sound. It’s a good phrase - safe and sound. It’s always good to be and feel safe and sound. Think of all the people in the world today who have good reason not to feel safe and sound.

Perhaps that should be our thought for the day - appreciating that we are, for the most part, safe and sound. And if you like, you can also appreciate the fact that we still have the phrase safe and sound after all these years.

Safe and sound.

Here is the view from where I sit and write my blog most mornings, safe and sound (no, no babies; that's Mojo's city apartment in the left foreground of the pictures).

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 

                                         For mine own good,

All causes shall give way: I am in blood

Stept in so far, that, should I wade no more,

Returning were as tedious as go o’er:

Strange things I have in head, that will to hand;

Which must be acted ere they may be scann’d.

Macbeth

Macbeth                          Act III, Scene iv, Line 137

 

 

From one titular classic tragedy character to another – both, naturally, tragically flawed.

This is Macbeth sinking further and further into his new self. He has murdered King Duncan and his friend Banquo and realizes that there’s no turning back now.

Here, I’ll give you Pete’s Version:
Everything and everyone will bend to my purposes now. I’m so deep in that there’s no turning back. These strange ideas that I have will soon be turned to action, and it’s only after they’ve been acted on that they will be fully understood.

Well, I’m not sure what’s to be understood beyond what is obvious, and that is that Macbeth has turned into a murderous, treasonous fellow out of ambition to be the top dog.

Does he want us to think there’s more to it than that? Well, is there? Is there more than that?

This of course raises a philosophical question: Is there a belief in the mind of the Hitler, or the Putin, or the Trump that makes them think that there is a reason that they are the answer? That they are the chosen one? Do they believe they are fated to be that. I guess with our friend Macbeth he does believe it’s fate, since the three sisters told him so and because the first thing they told him - Thane of Cawdor - came true on its own. I think it was the Thane of Cawdor thing that set Macbeth on his path.
What about the guys in real life history. Did they have their own three sisters and Thane of Cawdor experience? Or did they just convince themselves all on their own?

Now that’s an interesting question. Whether or not you give two hoots about Shakespeare or not, that's an interesting question.

 

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 How, how, Cordelia! Mend your speech a little,

Lest it may mar your fortunes.

Lear

King Lear                        Act I, Scene i, Line 94

 

This is line ninety-four in the play, and it’s all downhill from here.

Just previous to Today’s Line is one of my favorite Shakespearean lines, and one that I tend to speak whenever I get the reply ‘nothing’ from someone.

Lear is divvying up his kingdom in thirds twixt his three daughters and has just received lavish statements of love from the first two. Now he turns to his youngest, Cordelia, ready to give her a third of his kingdom. 

And he asks her,                                                                                   What can you say to draw a third, more opulent than your sisters?

 Cordelia replies,
    Nothing, my lord.

Lear responds,
    Nothing!

And Cordelia repeats,
    Nothing.

To which Lear declares,
    Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.

Nothing will come of nothing. Ask Walker or Patrice how many times they’ve heard me respond Nothing will come of Nothing when they have replied to a question with the answer Nothing. They will simply roll their eyes and say Too many times!

Pete: Walks, what do you want to do after dinner?

Walker: Nothing.

Pete: Nothing will come of Nothing!

Walker: Urgggh.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 Shall, then, my father’s will be of no force

To dispossess tht child that which is not his?

 

Robert Falcounbridge

King John               Act I, Scene i, Line 130

It’s a funny little part of this scene where these two brothers show up in front of the king looking for his judgement. It’s a case of inheritance and with one of the brothers going simply by the name of Bastard, well, I guess you might be able to get a sense of what the issue is.

Anyway, Robert Faulcounbridge, the other brother and today’s speaker, will quickly go away and not be seen again, whilst Bastard will be a major player in this play. Yes, that’s right, Bastard.
Go figure.

It’s funny what we, as individuals notice. I mean that it’s funny how two people subjected to the same scene, or song, or pretty much any experience, will have have different experiences. For one person the name Bastard will be meaningless and they may be more interested in the name Falcounbridge (that is a pretty interesting name), and for another Bastard might be grabber. But it’s true with everything. 

A grocery store stop,
‘That place was empty today; where is everybody?’
‘I was too busy noticing the prices; when did milk get that expensive?’

A new person you just met,
‘Did you get a hold of those glasses he was wearing?’
‘What glasses? I couldn’t take my eyes off those wild looking sandals on his feet.’

It’s everything. Shared experiences are just one Bastard vs Robert Falcounbridge after another.

So, what's this a picture of? What's your take away?

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 

An honest man, sir, is able to speak for himself, when a knave is not.

 

Davy

King Henry the Fourth Part II              Act V, Scene i, Line 45

Davy is a really minor character, a servant of Justice Shallow, himself a minor character. The exchange betwixt the two is not to add anything major to the play, but rather to… well I guess I’m not really sure what it’s doing. 

The scene is one where Falstaff is arriving back home after fighting in the war, and Justice Shallow is welcoming him into his home. Most of the scene is the Justice rattling on about this, that, and the other thing, whilst interacting with Davy. I’m afraid we’d need to have a more intimate knowledge of the play to understand the significance of this scene.

But we don’t have that intimate knowledge, do we? Or do we really need it? 

This is a history play about the reign of King Henry the Fourth. The major players, with the exception of Falstaff, are actual historical figures. The main action of the play, though dramatized, is based on actual historical events, but, as noted, Falstaff makes up a significant portion of the play and he is a fictional character. Naturally, much of players he interacts with, including Shallow and Davy, are fictional as well. It helps to have fictional characters that the author can do what ever he wishes with when he’s trying to add humanity, and the realities of humanity, into a play about historical events. 

So let's just conclude that this scene is all about enhancing that humanitarian reality.

Well, I looked around for a pic to post, and I just couldn't come up with anything. You'd think that humanitarian reality would be something that would be easily illustratable, wouldn't you?

I Guess not. Sorry. 

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

  

They do me wrong, and I will not endure it

 

Gloster

King Richard the Third         Act I, Scene iii, Line 42

I want to give your Gloster’s whole rant, because I really liked it, but I didn’t want to scare you off, so I just gave Today’s Line up front. It’s the beginning of the rant and the first words he speaks as he enters the scene. As such it’s not completely evident who he’s talking about, but I think it’s better that way because now you can relate to the rant and apply it to whoever or whatever you would be ranting about in your own life. I think we all feel like Gloster some time or another. Here’s the whole thing.

They do me wrong, and I will not endure it:—
Who are they that complain unto the king
That I, forsooth, am stern, and love them not?
By holy Paul, they love his grace but lightly
That fill his ears with such dissentious rumors.
Because I cannot flatter and speak fair,
Smile in men’s faces, smooth, deceive, and cog,
Duck with French nods and apish courtesy,
I must be held a rancorous enemy.
Cannot a plain man live and think no harm,
But thus his simple truth must be abused
By silken, sly, insinuating Jacks?

There. What do you think? Don’t tell me you haven’t felt this way at times; or at least that you can’t relate to certain parts of this. And there’s some great language in there: silken, sly, insinuating Jacks?

By holy Paul, that’s a great line!

My new reading glasses. 

I'm trying to add a little flair, but don't be mistaken - No silken, sly, insinuating Jack am I!

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines(s)

 

 

 O, lest your true love may seem false in this,

That you for love speak well of me untrue,

My name be buried where my body is,

And live no more to shame nor me nor you. 

 

Sonnet 72               

That's kind of bleak, isn't it?

This is the third quatrain of Sonnet 72. Lots of times (usually?) I give you the whole sonnet, but in this case the third quatrain seems to do a pretty good job of giving us the essence of the whole thing (that, and the fact that I don’t feel like typing out the whole thing): Bury my name with my body and forget about me. That’s pretty much it.

I think this sonnet probably falls into a sequence, so that it’s part of a bigger thought. There’s probably a lot more to it to explain, or set up, as to why he’s asking us (or someone) to forget about him. 

The Sonnets, apparently, are pretty complicated. They supposedly tell a story in a sort of way, if taken in groups. And the stories belie the meanings of the Sonnets taken individually. 

Interesting, isn’t it? 

Today's pic: an unstuck sticker from the fabulous sticker book. 

A little bit interesting, eh?

Does that make it a little more interesting?

How about now?

Interesting?

Get the picture?