Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Thou shalt be as free

As mountain winds: but then exactly do

All points of my command.

 

Prospero

The Tempest    Act I, Scene ii, Line 500

Prospero is telling Ariel that he’s going to set him free, but that for right now he still needs him to follow his commands. And, (spoiler alert) Prospero is true to his word as he does set Ariel free at the end of the play.

I always like it when a writer, not just Will, adds a modifier to an expression that really adds something substantial. Ariel won’t just be as free as the wind, he’ll be as free as mountain winds. The wind outside my window is not nearly as free as the winds up in the mountains. Up there no one is around to do anything to impede it, and it’s higher up in the atmosphere where the air is thinner and the winds can blow more easily. Those winds are significantly more free than the ones around here.

A modern line that’s a good example of this is Sweet as an apple on Christmas day. It’s a Paul Simon song lyric that’s always stuck with me because… well, just because. It’s not just sweet as an apple, but it’s an apple being eaten on Christmas day, when everything is a little sweeter.

 

Here's one more pretty good example. 

Don't just say sleepy; say sleepy as Mojo on Pete's shoulder when he's spouting on about Shakespeare. 

Now that's sleepy!

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Shall we go throw away our coats of steel,

And wrap our bodies in black mourning-gowns,

Numbering our Ave-Maries with our beads?

 

Richard

King Henry the Sixth Part III        Act II, Scene i, Line 160

 

The next three lines offers the alternative choice,

        Or shall we on the helmets of our foes

        Tell our devotion with revengeful arms?

Would you like to guess what the right choice is?

 

 

My friend has found a place on my shoulder to roost this morning and left instructions not to be disturbed. So I won't be bothering him for an answer to today's question. However, if I were to venture a guess as to what his inclination would be, I think it would have something to do with the Ave-Maries and rosary beads. 

 

Mojo is a lover, not a fighter.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

A good traveler is something at the latter end of a dinner; but one that lies three-thirds, and uses a known truth to pass a thousand nothings with, should be once heard and thrice beaten. –God save you, captain.

 

Lafeu

All’s Well That Ends Well      Act II, Scene v, Line 30

 

I’m not exactly sure that context has anything thing to do with being able to figure out what the heck Lafeu is talking about. Nor will familiarity with Will’s language be of any help, since there are no difficult words here. So I guess you'll just have to take a stab at it. Let me know how you make out. 

 

Since I have no Idea what Lafeu is talking about, I thought I'd just give you a completely unrelated picture. Actually, since I don't know what Lafeu is talking about, I guess this could be a completely relevant picture and I would never know. Think about that.

Anyway, here's a pic of Patrice doing her morning stretches. As you can see, Mojo likes to join in on the stretches. He claims to be something of an expert on the downward dog position. It's hard to argue with that.