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).