Today’s Totally Random Lines

                                               

 Bear the boy hence; he shall not come about her;

         [Exit Mamillius with some of the guards]

Away with him!—and let her sport herself

With that she’s big with;--for ‘tis Polixenes

Has made thee swell thus.

 

Leontes

The Winter’s Tale              Act II, Scene i, Line 61

                                   

Before you say anything, let me say that I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking More of this Shakespeare gobble-de-goop, and What the heck is this guy even saying? But if you knew what was going on, in other words if I didn’t spring these four lines of you with no context, you’d have no trouble at all understanding this. So, yes, you’re going to have to sit through some context. Sorry, but that’s just the way it is. Here goes, and I'll try to keep it as short as possible.

Leontes is the speaker and he’s interacting with his wife, Hermione. She’s just told him that she’s pregnant, but Leontes is convinced that she’s been cheating on him with Polixenes and that Polixenes is the father of the unborn child. Mamillius, the boy in this scene, is the young son of Leontes and Hermione.

Okay, now go back and read the four lines, and try to tell me that you don’t understand them. Now the lines just become more splendid examples of Will’s mastery of the language, don’t they?

 

 

Oh for cryin' out loud; examples of Will's mastery of the language? Where does this guy come up with this stuff?

Enough already, I’m outta here.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

                                               

 What’s that?

 

First Senator

Timon of Athens         Act III, Scene v, Line xxx

                                   

Well, there’s a nice short line! 

Would you care to know what the senator is reacting to when he says ‘What’s that?’

Should I wake him up and ask him if he wants to know what the senator is reacting to?

Nah!

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

                                               

Marry, at the white hair that Helen spied on Troilus’s chin.

Pandarus

Troilus and Cressida  Act I, Scene ii, Line 149

                                  

Remember, the word marry in this context has nothing to do with marriage. It’s simply an intro word for a sentence which is a reply to a question, like well, or so. By the way, have you noticed how many people start their replies today with the word so? It really is interesting.

What was your favorite part of the trip, Bert?

So, I liked Merida a lot, but nothing can surpass the spectacle of the Alhambra in Granada.

Anyhoo, Cressida asked her Uncle Pandarus what Helen was laughing at, and this was his answer. There’s a bit of a long explanation/follow-up to this (something about the hairs on his chin representing his father’s sons and a forkt one being Paris, which he then pluckt out), but it didn’t make much sense to me, so I’m not going to go into it any further.

Let’s face it, some days you get a good line, and some days not so much. Heck, yesterday’s line I just skipped altogether.  

So as a little bonus today (and that is a proper use of the word so) I’m giving you something a little more thought provoking. It’s Kareem’s Daily Quote. This should give you something to ponder.

Kareem’s Daily Quote

He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition, youth and age are equally a burden.

Plato (427-346 B.C.), Greek philosopher

 

 

Skipped altogether? Hey. Hey, Mrs. B., did you notice that? He skipped yesterday’s line altogether.

 Yes, I noticed Mojo. I noticed.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

                                               

I did not see you since you sent me hence,

Home to the Centaur, with the gold you gave me.

 

Dromio of Syracuse

The Comedy of Errors      Act II, Scene ii, Line 15                              

Just one more mix up based on the fact that there are two sets of twins in this story. Need I go on?

I’ll leave it to you, Mojo. Should I go on? What do you think.

Should I lie here and rest for a while longer, or should I go look for that treat that I buried yesterday? Decisions, decisions. 

I’ll take that as a 'no'.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

                                        

 Yet ‘banished’?—Hang up philosophy!

 

Romeo

Romeo and Juliet       Act III, Scene iii, Line 56

                                  

Context: Friar Knucklehead has just told Romeo that he has been banished, and the young lover is out of his mind because that means he will be separated permanently from Juliet. Romeo is going on and on about banishment, and the friar is trying to calm down and comfort him.

I’ll give thee armour to keep off that word;

Adversity’s sweet milk, philosophy,

To comfort thee, though thou art banished.

That’s right, the friar is going to give Romeo some philosophy. That’ll comfort him. No wonder Romeo says Hang up philosophy!

Unless philosophy can make a Juliet,

Displant a town, reverse a prince’s doom,

It helps not, it prevails not: talk no more.

Schmotz on your philosophy friar! That’s what Romeo is saying. He’s not interested in philosophy. I mean, who would be? Philosophy?

 

For the last time, NO, I do not have a light; and you can’t smoke that thing in here!

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

                                               

‘Tis all engaged, some forfeited and gone;

And what remains will hardly stop the mouth

Of present dues: the future comes apace:

What shall defend the interim? And at length

How goes our reckoning?

 

Flavius

Timon of Athens    Act II, Scene ii, Line 150

                                   

Timon’s right hand man, Flavius, is letting Timon know that he, Timon, has some serious money problems.

Let all my land be sold, says Timon.

Today’s Lines is Flavius’s answer to that. Apparently it’s all been mortgaged or sold already, and what hasn’t been mortgaged or sold is not enough to stop the mouth. I think he means enough to buy us food to eat.

Oh Timon! This guy is living in a dreamworld. He should have been listening to Flavius long ago. It’s a bit late now. Dreamers like Timon really need to listen to their Flaviuses.

Sort of like how you need to listen to Mrs. Blagys, because she takes care of everything and allows you to be a dreamer. Is it like that?

 Yeah, something like that, Mojo.

 Mrs. Blagys said it's exactly like that.

 Okay. Sure.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

                                              

Yea, this man’s brow, like to a title-leaf,

Fortells the nature of a tragic volume:

So looks the strond whereon the imperious flood

Hath left a witness’d usurpation.

 

Northumberland

King Henry the Fourth Part II     Act I, Scene i, Line 60

                                 

A title-leaf is the title page of a tragedy story, and a strond is a strand of land. 

Morton has just come into the room, returned from the battle. He’s not said a word yet, and Northumberland is remarking about the look on Morton’s face. He is anticipating bad news from Morton, and he’s right to do so.

Northumberland speaks of Morton's brow - his forehead. Yes, there are certainly things you can tell from a fellow’s face. Often in literature we hear about a knitted brow. To move the eyebrows together in a way that shows that one is thinking about something or is worried, angry, etc. That’s the MW definition of a knitting one’s brow. So I suppose we could say that Morton had a knitted brow. And if he had bad news and a knitted brow, (which he did) what would his forehead look like? Well, his eyebrows would be moved closer together. 

However, Will couldn’t use such pedestrian language as knitted brow (even though the idiom of knitted brow has been in use since the fourteenth century). He had to give us the image of land that had been left changed by the high waters of a flood to describe Morton’s brow.

One of the marks of good writing (and this is not according to me: I read this somewhere) is to stay away from standard, time-worn expressions And of course, our famous Bard is prone to better writing techniques, isn’t he.

I thought I'd give you some examples of a knitted brow.

Here's an unknitted, first thing in the morning brow.

And here's that same brow after having read the morning news; in other words, a brow looking like the strond whereon the imperious flood Hath left a witness'd usurption.

See the difference?

Now, here's Mojo without a care in the world.

And here's Mojo after I told him that we're out of treats.

Can you see the difference? 

No, neither can I. 

Apparently a no-knittable brow to go along with the no-opposable thumbs. 

Who knew?