Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

 

And therefore are we certainly resolved

To draw conditions of a friendly peace;

 

-Henry

King Henry the Sixth Part I          Act V, Scene i, Line 38

  

Henry says he’s going to stop fighting with France and marry the daughter of the Earl of Armagnac as part of the peace deal.
It’s a short scene, so that I was able to read the whole thing this morning. It ends with Winchester, newly installed as a cardinal, giving an aside and concluding with a rhyming couplet:
I’ll either make thee stoop and bend thy knee,
Or sack this country with a mutiny.

So this guy is obviously up to no good.

But that’s not my line of thought this morning (and please don’t ask me to account for my line of thought - that’s a lost cause). What I was wondering was about the nature of the scene-ending rhyming couplet. Primarily, why do some scenes end with rhyming couplets and others don’t? Is there any rule governing where and why these bad boys are used?

(Okay, I just got auto-corrected from ‘governed’ to ‘for Vern Bing’.  Who the heck is Vern Bing? And don’t even get me started on AI. So, I just googled Vern Bing. All I got was someone named Vern Bing on Pinterest with one follower. Very odd. So I’ve decided to follow Vern. I'll keep you updated.)

Anyway, rhyming couplets. Right? I’m tempted to go through and start compiling a list of what plays and scenes use the rhyming couplet as and ender and which don’t to see if I can identify some rhyme or reason. Perhaps it’s just one of those unanswered questions, like what’s the rational for prose vs verse?

Wouldn’t it be great to have Will here to ask these questions to? Or even some of his personal writings where he talks about this stuff? Oh well, I don't see that happening anytime soon. Instead you're stuck with the personal writings of a bonehead like me. Ooof.

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

It is my only suit;

Provided that you weed your better judgements

Of all opinion that grows rank in them

That I am wise.

  

-Jaques

As You Like It                Act II, Scene vii, Line 45

 

What is his only suit? And with suit we have a double entendre. He’s asking for a coat. So, he is effectively suing for a suit. Suit, suit.
Will loves his wordplay in the comedies.

Anyway, Jaques is talking about a fool that he just met (in fact I posted about this part of the scene, and you can read that here if you want), and now he’s saying that he wants to be a fool. That’s his suit, I am ambitious for a motley coat. And when Duke Senior says he shall have one, Jaques gives us today’s totally random line.

So Jaques will get his wish and he can be the fool. Of course, you realize that in Will’s plays the fool is the smartest and gets to say whatever he wants to whomever he wants to say it to. Jaques knows this and that’s probably why he wants to be the fool. Yeah, come to think of it, the fool is not a bad gig, is it?

So, as I mentioned briefly yesterday, I just got back from a cruise and it was aboard a really big ship, a very crowded ship; Over 4,000 passengers. Oi! Good thing we were in the Haven! But now I’m home and sitting in my living room drinking coffee. And my biggest problem of the moment is that the sun is about to rise and get in my eyes, so that I might have to switch chairs. What a problem!!

Yes, my life is good, and I am very aware of this. I may forget this at times, but not I am very blessed.
So I don’t have Jaques desire to be anything other that what I am. I’ll just keep being Pete, which probably means being a little bit of a fool anyway. But it’s a good gig. Even on bad days, it’s still a good gig. I may forget this at times, but in my saner moments I’m very much aware of it. It’s a really good gig.

Yup, that's the sun coming up behind that big old maple tree. This sunrise is not quite as picturesque as the Caribbean sunset in yesterday's post, but I like it. 

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

 That Paris is returned home, and hurt.

  

-Aeneas

 Troilus and Cressida              Act I, Scene i, Line 110

 

Okay, we’re at the very beginning of the play. We’ve just had Troilus whining to Cressida’s Uncle Pandarus about how much he’s in love with the latter's niece. Then Pandarus walks away and Aeneus, one of the Trojan commanders, walks in. When Troilus asks him for news from the battlefield, he gets Today’s Totally Random Line. Troilus’s response is Let Paris bleed; ‘tis but a scar to scorn. It seems like a pretty cavalier response considering that Paris is Troilus’s brother. But who am I to say?

Here's my excuse for not posting all last week. I was at sea, without internet.

And here's the reason I'm posting now. It's the sun setting on my cruise. 

I'm back home now. 

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

  

    Let us bury him,

And not protract with admiration what

Is due debt.—To the grave!

 

 

-Guiderius

Cymbeline                      Act IV, Scene ii, Line 233

 

Well, I skipped the first two lines of Guiderius’s little speech

                                       Prithee, have done;
And do not play in wench-like words with that
Which is so serious. Let us bury him,

 

I skipped it because I didn’t want to give you too much up front; I feel like I’ve been giving you some pretty long Random Lines lately, but then I realized that that second line, with the wench-like word thing was worth noting. I mean really, what’s a wench-like word? Okay, I wasn’t going to get into a lot of context, but I guess we’ve gotta go back and see what the previous speaker was saying.

It seems that the two brothers Guiderius, Arviragus, and their father Belarus are sitting here with two dead bodies. One is the headless Colten, a lout that Guiderius just killed, and other is Imogen, who these three guys think is a young lad named Fidele. I’m not sure how she died. Well, Arviragus just gave us a little eleven line speech about all the flowers he’s going to be putting on Fidele’s grave all year. I guess that’s the wench-like words. The fact is, all three of these guys are making a fuss over this lad, Fidele who they just met. It’s a little weird. But anyway, Today’s Totally Random Line is Guiderius saying ‘Enough! Let’s just bury the kid.’ Yeah, that’s today’s line. Prithee, have done is basically Enough!

Perhaps right now you’re saying to yourself as you’re reading this ‘Prithee, be done Pete! Enough!’ I guess I wouldn’t blame you.

Hi Jess! 

No pic today, just Hi Jess. Jess told me that she only looks at my blog for the pics. I'm testing here to see if that's the case. 

Hi Jess!

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,

For all the day they view things unrespected;

But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee,

And, darkly bright, are bright in dark directed.

Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright,

How would thy shadow’s form form happy show

To the clear day with thy much clearer light,

When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so?

How would, I say, mine eyes be blessed made

By looking on thee in the living day,

When in dead night thy fair imperfect shade

Through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay!

All days are nights to see till I see thee,

And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me.

 

Sonnet 43

 

Okay, there you go. As usual, I’m giving you the whole sonnet, even though the Today’s Totally Random Line is the last one, And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me. But I think you can handle the full fourteen lines.

I’m not sure how much I want to get into this today. It’s a pretty interesting sonnet and not very hard to understand, which is nice. And it’s got some good stuff to look at and analyze. The problem (the same problem I face a lot) is that there’s a bit too much there, and if I really want to get into it, it’ll take a bit of time. Unfortunately, I’ve got a lot of other stuff that needs to get done today, so I don’t have that time. Retirement in a few years? More time then? Or will there just be different stuff taking up my time. But isn’t it all my time? Right? My time to do with as I please? Right? Well, I’m not so sure about that.

Anyway, why don’t you take a good look at the sonnet (if you’ve got the time). It’s uses a lot of really interesting things. Like talking about shadowing and literally shadowing the word shadow with the word shadows, and shadowing the word form with the word form. And that’s just the start. There’s the constant use of apparent contradictions, like days are nights and nights (are) bright days. And of course, there’s more.

So, go ahead, take a look yourself. It’s worth the look. Trust me.

A nice bowl of oatmeal with bananas. Why am I giving you this pic? Because this is the breakfast I didn't have this morning. Why not? It's because I slept so poorly that when I got up this morning to have my coffee I fell asleep in my chair for an hour, making myself late, without time for breakfast.

So this is the tie-in between my spiel about time and Will's sonnet about sleep. Because I didn't get that good sleep last night (irrespective of what dreams I had), I was short on time this morning, and missed out on the breakfast pictured above.

So you see, it's all related. 

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

 What must the king do now? Must he submit?

The king shall do it: must he be deposed?

The king shall be contented: must he lose

The name of king? O’ God’s name, let it go:

I’ll give my jewels for a set of beads,

My gorgeous palace for a hermitage,

My gay apparel for an almsman’s gown,

My figured goblets for a dish of wood,

My scepter for a palmer’s walking-staff,

My subjects for a pair of carved saints,

A little little grave, an obscure grave;--

 

-Richard

King Richard the Second       Act III, Scene iii, Line 146

 

Yeah, that’s a little bit long, but I could have gone further. He goes on to talk more about the grave, and then he gets into the tears; so I stopped here.

Context: Bolingbroke (soon to be Henry IV) has come to demand his land and inheritance back, along with the repeal of his banishment. He claims that he will be a faithful subject to King Richard. Richard knows full well that he does not have the power to resist Bolingbroke’s demands, and he also knows that once he gives into these demands he is signaling his weakness He knows that by giving in to these demands he is basically giving up the kingship, because irrespective of what Bolingbroke says, everyone knows that he intends to usurp Richard’s crown. Today’s lines are Richard’s reflection on this inevitable outcome.

Richard does a fair bit of reflection in this play. This speech strikes me as similar to the one near the end of the play, just before he dies in prison

        I have been studying how I may compare

        This prison where I live unto the world:

        And, for because the world is populous,

        And here is not a creature but myself,

        I cannot do it; -- yet I’ll hammer it out.

I really love yet I’ll hammer it out. I’ve covered that prison soliloquy twice before: here and here if you’re interested.

Anyway, they are both very similar speeches, very resigned to accepting what’s to come, very fatalistic. Perhaps I relate to these lines because I feel this type of resignation myself quite a bit. And yet, I’ll hammer it out.

In a very literal sense, this is what I've been hammering stuff out with for the past nearly fifty years. I'm not talking about a hammer, I'm talking about this specific hammer. Yes, this specific 16 oz, steel shaft, Stanely hammer. At least, that's what I think it is, but I looked really, really, closely at it just now and I can't find even a trace of manufacturer's markings on it. It's too worn. Anyway, I worked with a carpenter/housebuilder named Lou Forsell for a summer back in 1979. I started the summer with a wood handled hammer, but Lou told me to get a steel shaft because it would hold up to much more pounding and abuse than the wood handled one would. Well, I got this guy, and I've used it ever since. And I've used it A LOT. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I own anything today that I've owned as long as this guy, or gotten as much use out of. What an interesting thought. 

So, thanks for the good advice, Lou.

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

A villain kills my father; and for that,

I, his sole son, do this same villain send

To Heaven.

 

-Hamlet

Hamlet                    Act III, Scene iii, Line 77

 

And we start the new year with two guys; one trying to figure out how he’s going to get to heaven after all the crimes he’s committed, and the other trying to figure out how to best kill the first to ensure that he doesn’t go to heaven. Ha!

Whilst it sounds a bit, ummm, what’s the word? It’s not evil, but it’s something with a strong negative connotation. The word escapes me, but my thought is that whilst this description of the scene makes it sound a bit evil, this is a very good scene for a number of reasons. In it, we find Claudius alone, lamenting his situation with his ‘O, my offence is rank…’ soliloquy, followed by Hamlet coming upon him unobserved. Hamlet sees Claudius on his knees and wants to kill him but talks himself out of it, telling himself that if he does it now, whilst Claudius is praying, the latter might go to heaven. Hamlet wants to send him straight to hell, so he walks away.

Of course, Hamlet (the play and the person) is filled with thought preventing action. And there’s a lot of talk about this throughout the play. At one point Claudius says ‘That we would do, we should do when we would.’ We had this on a recent Random Line. Remember? And of course there’s that part of Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy about the will to act being ‘sicklied o’er with the pale cast of Thought’.

Yeah, Will has a lot to say about taking or, more often, not taking action when perhaps we should. It’s a pretty interesting thought to start the new year with, don’t you think?

I think I might have used this pic before, but it's an appropriate one for today. Why Because it's a pic of me around the time I would have been reciting my memorized, aforementioned 'O my offence is rank...' speech in Jay Riedy's British Lit class in 1974. 

Yup, that's right, 1974. That was a few old years ago.

Happy New Year.