Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

Signior Baptist, my business asketh haste,

And every day I cannot come to woo.

You knew my father well; and in him me,

Left solely heir to all his lands and goods,

Which I have better’d rather than decreased:

Then tell me,— if I get your daughter’s love,

What dowry shall I have with her to wife?

  

-Petruchio

The Taming of the Shrew              Act II, Scene i, Line 120

                    

And Baptista assures Petruchio a satisfactory dowry, so it’s pretty much a done deal; all over but the crying. And the taming, of course. 

We’re at the beginning of Act II. It’s an odd little play, and I think it requires a bit of work to figure out. If you go into it looking for a play about nothing more than chauvinism and women being mistreated, then that’s probably what you’ll find. But if you go into it with an open mind, well there might be a little, or perhaps a lot, more for you to encounter. Perhaps.

But doesn’t that apply to so many things in life?

Well, I wanted to use a pic today that was representative of the question I ended today's post with. But I just couldn't come up with any ideas. 

So... no pic for today. 

Sorry.

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

How goes the world, sir, now?

-Ross

Macbeth                         Act II, Scene iv, Line 20

                   

This is a scene on the morning after Duncan’s murder. Ross, a nobleman, is outside Macbeth’s castle talking about the murder to an old man. Macduff, another nobleman shows up and Ross greets him with today’s line. It seems, at first, a rather an odd line given that both men know that the king has just been found murdered in his bed. But the ‘now’ on the end of the question gives it that added meaning of knowing that things are messed up, but has anything new happened since the murder? Well, yes it has: the assumed murderers were killed by Macbeth, whilst Duncan’s two sons have fled. Meanwhile Macbeth has left for Scone where he will be crowned the new king. So actually, a lot has happened.

And what about Duncan’s body?

   Carried to the Colme-kill,
   The sacred storehouse of his predecessors,
   And guardian of their bones.

And it’s this last bit that is yet another bit of Will’s writings that makes me think of Tolkien’s work. In this case it brings to mind Theoden’s burial.

Yes, I am convinced that Will influenced the writing of JRR. Don’t get me going on that one. And yes, I know that JRR professed a general dislike for Will’s works, but that doesn’t mean that he wasn’t schooled in them at an early age, and that they could not have subconsciously affected him. I am absolutely convinced of it, as I suppose, I am absolutely convinced of many things; most assuredly some of them right and true, and some of them less so.
So, let’s just leave it at that.

This is a close-up of a pine tree branch in our backyard. Those little things that look like berries are actually very small pine cones. 

I looked all over for something related but came up empty. Anyway, I thought this was a nice pic, so there you go.

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

Our love was new, and then but in the spring,

When I was wont to greet it with my lays;

As Philomel in summer’s front doth sing,

And stops her pipe in growth of riper days.

 

 

Sonnet 125                             

 

As usual I’ve given you one full quatrain of the sonnet. I found this sonnet to be quite easy to understand, though there’s probably more there than I’m choosing to see right now. One note: lays are songs. If you read Tolkien, or lots of Shakespeare, you’d know this, but otherwise you might not, and that’s why I’m pointing it out.

The whole sonnet seems simply to be saying that even though our love is no longer young, it is still just as strong, if not stronger. Yeah, simple as that. 

I could give you the whole sonnet, but I don’t really feel like typing it all out right now. I’m a bit hungry, among other things. So let’s call it a day on this matter, and I can start my day on most of my other matters.

Ta ta.

And here's where I get to spend most of that day. 

Hmmm, no wonder Walker's in no rush to get through college.

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

‘Anon he finds him

Striking too short at Greeks; his antiquie sword,

Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,

Repugnant to command: unequal matcht,

Pyrrhus at Priam drives; in rage strikes wide;

But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword

Th’unnerved father falls.

 

-First Player

Hamlet                            Act II, Scene ii, Line 479

                       

Yup, had to go with the full sentence. Don’t ask me why.

This is one of the actors that’s come to perform at Elsinore and, upon meeting him, Hamlet has asked him to perform a speech he remembers from a play. Hamlet gives the first part of it, ending with

        With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus

        Old grandsire Priam seeks,

Then the player picks up with Anon he finds him, and tells about Phyrrus coming to kill old Priam. 

We could probably spend the rest of the day (and it is a nice rainy Sunday morning, so it’s tempting) dissecting this line, and the ones before and after. But I rather think not. I did listen to the rest of this scene; it ends with the rogue and peasant slave soliloquy. And that was fun.

One of these days I’m going to have to sit down (perhaps over the course of a few days) and watch Branagh’s Hamlet from beginning to end; perhaps rent it from the library. But, in the immortal words of Aragorn, it is not this day! 

So, in the meantime, I'm going to let today’s line sit. I'll leave it up to you to do your own thing with it. 

Today's pic?

 Just a gentle reminder to myself not to fret about the length of my son's hair. 

Relevance to today's Random Line? 

I dunno; there must be something. I'll leave that up to you as well. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat;

And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures.

 

-Jean Luc Picard

Star Trek: Picard                          Final Scene

 

Leave it to Patrick Stewart to end the show, the series, the whole deal, with Shakespeare. I watched the finale of Star Trek: Picard last night and I was not disappointed. In the final scene, before they all sit down to a game of cards, Jean Luc offered a bit of Shakespeare, which I’ve given as Today’s Totally Random Lines, as his toast to the crew.

Was he talking about what they had gone through as the crew of the Enterprise? Or was he talking about what he, Patrick Stewart, and the other actors there had gone through portraying those roles over the past 35 or so years. Probably a bit of both. Either way, it’s a great, and wonderfully appropriate, quote. 

No pic today. Perhaps, just read the quote one more time. (It's Marcus Brutus from Julius Caesar, Act IV, Scene iii, in case you were wondering.)

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

Here once again we sit, once again crown’d,

And looked upon, I hope, with cheerful eyes.

 

-King John

King John                       Act IV, Scene ii, Line 1

                     

Well, I often say to myself, here once again I sit. In fact, I think I might have been saying that to myself a few minutes ago. And if I wasn’t, well, I’ll say it now, out loud.
Here once again we sit. Not sure about the crown’d part. And I don’t see any other eyes, let alone cheerful ones. But nonetheless….
Here once again we sit.

It reminds me of a poster. I don’t remember much about the picture on the poster, just the words:
Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits.
I think that describes me fairly well.
So it’s either that, or here once again we sit.

Take your pick.

Speaking of sitting: I was sitting in a waiting room the other day, and I noticed the footwear on this fellow, and I took a clandestine photo of his feet. 

I don't know who he is, but whoever he is, here he sat, looked upon by me with envious eyes. 

Thems is some comfy looking sandals!

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

The deep-revolving witty Buckingham

No more shall be the neighbor to my counsels:

Hath he so long held out with me untired,

And stops he now for breath? –well, be it so.

  

-Richard

Richard the Third                 Act IV, Scene ii, Line 42

                       

Richard has decided that he will no longer trust Buckingham. I believe that Buckingham was an ardent supporter of Richard and helped him to gain the throne. But now, Richard has asked Buckingham to take care of getting rid of (killing) the princes in the tower and Buckingham is hesitant.

That’s an interesting statement of what Buckingham is to Richard: The deep-revolving, witty Buckingham. I’m not quite sure what to make of that. I wonder if it will start to crystallize for me if I dwell on it, as many of Will’s words do. Deep-revolving, witty. 

And no more shall be the neighbor to my counsels. That one’s easier to understand and absolutely wonderful. A normal human would say, I’m not going to trust him any longer. Will says he no more shall be neighbor to my counsels.

I must be crazy because I just don’t get tired of this stuff. I only wish that I could remember all the words because I’d love to be able to use this language more in my daily interactions. I’m sure if the people around me that I live with could hear me voice that thought, they would in unison cry ‘No Pete! You’re odd enough already. You don’t need more of this language!’

Well, maybe they're right. 

On the other hand, if that's the way they feel, perhaps they no more shall be the neighbor to my counsels!