Today’s Totally Random
Lines
Love’s
counselor should fill the bores of hearing,
To
the smothering of the sense -
Imogen
Cymbeline Act III, Scene ii, Line
58
This short bit is part of a really long
sentence, but it sort of stands on its own, so we’ll take it that way. It’s a pretty understandable line, isn’t it? Okay then, what’s it mean?
When loves counselor is talking, you shouldn’t be able to hear anything else? But who or what is love’s counselor? Well, Imogen is talking to Pisanio and asking for his input. So, I guess Pisanio is love’s counselor, at least in this case.
Irrespective of what she’s trying to say, it’s some pretty nice phraseology. Fill the bores of hearing, to the smothering of the sense.
Now that I think about it, you could use this anytime you want to tell someone to listen to you. For example,
"Marty, Marty…I’m gonna take it slow and easy, and I’m going to make this just as simple as I can. If you’re smart, you’ll let my words fill the bores of your hearing to the smothering of the sense!"
The first part of that example is something the plant controller used to say to one of his minions on an audit job I did many years ago. The controller was a caustic old guy, but adding the bores of hearing part would have really added a little je ne sais quois to what is otherwise a really demeaning little rant.
See - a little Shakespeare can make just about anything better.
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