Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Art not a poet?

 

Apemantus

Timon Of Athens            Act I, Scene i, Line 219

 

Apemantus is asking the Poet if he’s a poet.

What can I possibly have to say about that?

 

You got anything to say about that line, little parrot-man?

He's got nothin'.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night!

Comets, importing change of times and states,

Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky,

And with them scourge the bad revolting stars

That have consented unto Henry’s death.

 

Duke of Bedford

King Henry the Sixth Part I          Act I, Scene i, Line 1

 

That’s right, it’s the first line of the play. Not only that, it’s the first play in my book. So it’s the first possible line to be picked. And not only, not only that, but the book has the plays in chronological order based on when Will wrote them. So this is the first line of any play that Will ever wrote.

Well, not exactly. You see, there is general disagreement on the exact order of Will’s plays. Depending on what Shakespearean scholar you ask, Will’s first play could be this one, or Comedy Of Errors, or Taming Of The Shrew, or… well, you get the idea.

No matter what you think, though, I like to think these are the first lines of Will’s put to paper. It’s the Duke’s exclamation, lamentation, about the death of Henry V. And a fine exclamation, lamentation it is!

Whilst some might claim it’s a little bit overdone, I like it. Can you imagine someone getting up at your funeral to give an elegy and starting with this? I think that would be fabulous! Not that I’m in any rush to be eulogized, mind you.

Hung be the heavens with red, not black!

(I decided to give Mojo the day off)

He claims I've been working him too hard, if you can believe that.

 

Wait, what did he say?

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

You are keen, my lord, you are keen.

Ophelia

Hamlet                    Act III, Scene ii, Line 267

It’s Ophelia talking to Hamlet. One thing about this play is that there’s very little said that doesn’t have some hidden meaning. What’s the hidden meaning in Ophelia telling Hamlet that he’s sharp? I don’t know. It’s hidden.

No, no Mojo; you're not hidden. I can still see you. 

I was trying to teach him how to play hide and seek last summer, and he was having a hard time with the concept. Somehow, he thought that since he was sitting in my slipper that would count as being hidden. He's gotten a bit keener since then.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

I, gentle mistress.

                           And are you not my husband?

Antipholus of Syracuse

                                Adriana

 

The Comedy of Errors   Act V, Scene i, Line 371

 

It’s one metric line spoken by two different people: the first three words by Antipholus and the rest by Adriana. I say one metric line, but instead of the ten syllables of Will’s normal iambic pentameter, this one’s got twelve. So I’m not sure what’s up with that, but I suppose we should just let it be.

Anyway, this part of the exchange began with Adrian asking Antipholus of Syracuse (whom she has mistaken for her husband, Antipholus of Ephesus) who it was who had dined with her. And his answer to the question of whether or not he is her husband is

No; I say nay to that.  

Now you’d think that she’d be able to recognize her true husband who’s also standing there. We’re at the very end of the play where the two Antipoluses and the two Dromios are finally all in one place at one time. There’s only about fifty lines left in the play, and in those fifty lines everything’s going to be neatly wrapped up. For now, though, confusion still reigns.

Can you imagine if Pete of Syracuse and Mojo of Syracuse showed up in cheshire; perfect doubles of these two - Pete of Cheshire and Mojo of Cheshire.

Well, that could make an interesting story, couldn't it?

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

I am very glad on’t.

 

Queen

Cymbeline      Act I, Scene i, Line 163

I’m not sure exactly if the queen is really glad about the news that a swordfight between her son and Posthumus was broken up. It’s a bit confusing, but suffice it to say that the queen in this story is basically the wicked stepmother, so it's hard to tell what she's really thinking most of the time. 

However, let’s not dwell on that, but rather on just being glad. Most of us have much to be glad on. I know I do. I also know that when I concentrate on how much I have to be glad on I find it much harder to be mad or sad. It’s funny how those all rhyme: mad, sad, glad.

Anway, I think we all need to find a way to concentrate on the things that we have to be glad on. That’s a good way to be.

Here's a fellow who has much to be glad on, and I think he knows it.

In case you couldn't find him in the first pic.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

When he stands where I am, and sees you there.

 

Biondello

The Taming Of The Shrew    Act III, Scene ii, Line 40

When will he be here? That is the question that Biondello is answering this morning. On its own, that doesn't appear to make much sense, does it? But, in fact, it's just a smart-ass reply that makes perfect sense. Biondello is simply saying, he'll be here when he's here. Which doesn't tell anyone anything, does it?

When will this post end? It will end when I stop writing. In other words, now.

Why am I giving you a picture of a sleeping baby Mojo?

Why not?

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Camillo, sir; I spake with him; who now

Has these poor men in question. Never saw I

Wretches so quake: they kneel, they kiss the earth;

Forswear themselves as often as they speak:

Bohemia stops his ears, and threatens them

With divers death in death.

 

Lord

The Winter’s Tale          Act V, Scene i, Line 199

Let’s get a little context and a little clarity. The poor men in question that the lord is talking about are a shepherd and his son who have little to do with the plot. They just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now Bohemia (that’s the king of Bohemia) apparently is planning to kill them.

Forswear is a modern word, though not that common. In this context it means that the guys in question are contradicting themselves. Divers is the old way of spelling diverse. We’re not talking about scuba divers here. They didn’t use an e on the end of diverse back when they printed this word in the early seventeenth century.

And as far as threatening them with diverse death in death? Well your guess is as good as mine on that, but whilst it’s a little confusing, it sure don’t sound good. I don’t think I’d like to be facing diverse death in death, whatever the heck it means!

No Mojo, Priscilla didn't say anything about diverse death in death; she's just trying to give you a hug.