Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Who’s born that day

When I forget to send to Antony,

Shall die a beggar.

  

Cleopatra

Antony and Cleopatra           Act I, Scene v, Line 72

 

This whole scene is about how much Cleopatra is missing Antony. Apparently she writes to him every day whilst he’s in Rome. That’s what she’s referring to in the lines above, and that's all she's saying here - that she writes to Antony every day.

I don’t like to pass up the opportunity to point out famous Shakespearean lines when our Totally Random Daily lines come close to them. After all, we pretty much never hit the famous ones in our random fashion.

Just a few lines further down Cleopatra gives us one of her more famous lines, referring to when she was younger, and in love with Caesar, in a time before she met Antony. Apparently she had a fling with all the Roman greats of her time. She refers to that time as

                  My salad days,
When I was green in judgement:— cold in blood,
To say as I said then!—But, come, away;
Get me ink and paper:
He shall have every day a several greeting,
Or I’ll unpeople Egypt.

And that’s the end of act one.

My salad days. I dunno about salad days, but I’m feeling pretty good about my current days; call them my dessert days. After all, I get to use the senior parking spot, and I’m smart enough to cheat with an electric bike. 

(2) I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore - YouTube

I'm not sure if I've given you this one previously, but that's okay because it's a good one.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Withdraw you hence, my lord; I’ll follow you.

  

Buckingham

King Richard the Third        Act III, Scene iv, Line 42

 

Buckingham is addressing Richard. They’ll go off in private for a few minutes, and then they’ll come back, and Richard will declare Hastings a traitor. His crime? He expressed a desire for Edward’s son to be crowned the next king. Never mind the fact that Edward’s son is the rightful next king, that doesn’t fit with Richard’s plan. And so, off with his head. So much for poor Hastings. And that’s a dreary bit of theater, particularly for poor Hastings.

This morning’s weather is fittingly dreary. It’s a light fog out there that will hopefully be burning off in the next few hours. I have chosen this morning for my inaugural e-bike ride to work. Yes, this morning the Aventon (and more to the point, the Pete) will be put to the test. Hopefully we make out better than Hastings.

Wish us luck!

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Warble, child; make passionate my sense o’ hearing.

  

Armado

Love’s Labour’s Lost             Act III, Scene i, Line 1

 

 

Armado is telling Moth to sing. Moth begins and gets one word out, Concolinel (I think it’s a name, but I’m not sure), before Armado immediately interrupts him.

Even as I read Warble, child I heard a bird warbling outside, so it seems a very suitable line for this morning. Interesting too that Armado used the word warble as it is so much more appropriate for me, even more than for him. He could have asked Moth to sing, but that wouldn’t have been a word as nearly appropriate for me right now as warble. Yah, warble.

The fellow warbling for me is a wren. I don’t know if there is one very verbal wren around here or if we are lousy with wrens, but I am constantly hearing, and often seeing this warbling fellow, everywhere around the house. He’s in the front yard now. Yesterday, whilst we sat by the pool in the back, he was serenading us. He’s got a lovely little song. Oh, it’s a little bit repetitious, but lovely nonetheless. Yes, that’s the word: Lovely.

Hmmm, it's quiet now. My warbling friend seems to have moved off for a bit.

Your favorite blogger sitting by the pool; enjoying life and the sound of the wren.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Give place: By heaven, thou shalt rule no more

O’er him whom heaven created for thy ruler.

 

Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York

King Henry the Sixth Part II         Act V, Scene i, Line 106

 

Well this is a longish passage by the Duke of York and, thus far, I have no idea whatsoever or whomsoever he’s talking about.

Okay, got it. Went back and read the whole scene; not too long - couple of hundred lines - and not a lot linguistic curve balls. Overall, an easy and pleasant read.

So this is Richard Plantagenet, that’s Richard III’s father, telling Henry that Sixth that he, the Duke of York, is the rightful king. And here we go, right back into the Wars of the Roses.

Yes, Richard is pretty adamant that it’s he who should be king, and he’s letting everyone, including King Henry, know. Of course, he himself is going to get killed before he can become king, but his two sons, Edward and Richard, will both get their turns on the throne.

What a gorgeous day it is here in the Shire, and I’m very glad that I don’t have to worry about going to fight for either Richard or Henry in some stupid contest for the crown. Can you imagine? Luckily, we have a democracy where we vote for the leaders, and have peaceful transitions of power. Can you imagine if we had a system where the leader was the one who could raise the biggest army of armed citizens who would fight to put him in power. That’s more than just a bit scary, isn’t it.

Okay, better put my head back in the Shire.

 

I'm sorry, sometimes I can't help myself. On the other hand, this is the day that we honor those who gave their lives for the freedom of the democracy that I was talking about, so I guess we really should spend some time now and then thinking about it, and appreciating it. Right?

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

                                          I am sorry,
Most sorry, you have broken from his liking,
Where you were tied in duty; and as sorry
Your choice is not so rich in worth as beauty,
That you might well enjoy her.

 

Leontes

The Winter’s Tale          Act V, Scene i, Line 54

 

Okay, I listened to the scene this morning on my Arkangel cd's. Twelve minutes and thirty-three seconds; A very well spent twelve minutes and thirty three seconds. Get this: it’s Ciaran Hinds as Leontes! I had no idea. I love that guy. He’s got such a singular affect.

Anyway, this is the scene where Florizel (that's the son of Leonte’s former best friend, Polixenes) and Perdita (that's Leonte’s daughter, though no one at this point knows that she’s his daughter) show up in Siclia. They’re on the run from Polixenes, because Florizel (I’ve always thought that seemed more like a girl’s name?) has decided to marry Perdita, a shepherd’s daughter (at least, for now everyone thinks she’s a shepherd's daughter).

Everyone in the scene has just found out that Polixenes is in town, in pursuit of his son and Perdita, determined to keep them from marrying. This is what Leontes is now realizing, and what he’s remarking on to Florizel in Today’s Totally Random Lines. He’s referring to the fact that Florizel has broken from his father's (that's Polixenes) liking.

Now here’s something from a few lines down. Florizel is asking Leontes for his help, and asking him to remember when he was as young a Florizel is now.

                  --Beseech you, sir,

Remember since you owed no more to time

Than I do now:

Since you owed no more to time. That’s a really interesting way to say remember when you were young, like me. I love those little nuggets that just show up in Will's works. But you’ve got to have your eye’s open for them. They’re kind of like the gems you see in the walls in the Seven Dwarve’s ride at Disneyworld. Kind of like finding that Ciaran Hinds is the voice of Leontes!

Speaking of the Seven Dwarves. And those aforementioned gems. Wait a tic... I count eight.

Oh wait, that's not a dwarf in front there, is it? That's Walker P, and he's not a dwarf (especially not anymore). But he is a gem!

Okay, Seven Dwarves. And gems.

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Old John of Gaunt is grievous sick, my lord,

Suddenly taken; and hath sent post-haste

To entreat your majesty to visit him.

 

Bushy

King Richard the Second       Act I, Scene iv, Line 54

  

Your majesty that Bushy addresses here is Richard II, and the old John of Gaunt he’s referring to is Richard’s uncle, the second male born of Edward III. The first male born of Edward III was Richard II’s father, Edward the Black Prince. But the Black Prince predeceased his father, Edward III, so that when the latter died, his crown passed not to his eldest surviving son, John of Gaunt, but rather to his grandson, Richard II. Got it?

Aside from a little history lesson, the bottom line here is that old John of Gaunt is not just any old guy lying on his deathbed. John of Gaunt is, next to his nephew Richard II, belikes the most powerful man in the kingdom. And it’s old John Gaunt’s son, Henry, who’s going to be coming back to take the throne from Richard.

So Old John of Gaunt, who is the father of the future king (though no one knows that right now), should more properly be referred to as The Most Revered and Mighty Prince John. Or something like that. But that’s not the way that Richard and his flunkies see it. They just see him as Old John of Gaunt. 

Underestimating or undervaluing people: that’ll end up getting you in trouble every time. If you don’t mind my saying so, you should try not to do that. And everyone’s got some value. So you should probably just not undervalue or underestimate anyone. 

There you go, some pearls of wisdom for the day.

No pearls for this guy (and I'm pretty sure there must be some guys wearing pearls these days). 

No, a nice little cross will do fine, thanks; not that I'm a deeply religious fellow, mind you. 

Nonetheless, a nice little cross. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Celestial as thou art, O, pardon love this wrong,

That sings heavens’ praise with such an earthly tongue.

 

Nathaniel

Love’s Labour’s Lost             Act IV, Scene ii, Line 124

 

 

Well how about that. We’ve got a sonnet. But it is not one of the 154 sonnets. It is a sonnet that is written into the play Love’s Labour’s Lost, and these are the two concluding lines of this fourteen line sonnet.

I’m afraid I’m not inclined to type out the first twelve lines. Of course, I’ve given you the act, scene, and line reference, and there’s a tab at the top of this page that will take you right to the text of Will’s plays. So there’s nothing stopping you from reading the sonnet, should you feel so inclined.

Also, I’m not exactly sure what’s going on in the play at this point, so I can’t tell you how this sonnet fits in to the story of Love’s Labour’s Lost. And quite frankly, I’m not inclined to do the work this morning of finding this out either.

So, assuming that you’re not going to read the whole sonnet, we’re both going to be lazy; is that it? Well, it happens, doesn’t it?

One further, somewhat unconnected but interesting (at least I thought it was interesting), thought: I was thinking (and typing), is’t possible to make a….full stop. FULL STOP! I had been about to type make a book out of the blog, with additional writing in it? But as I was typing right now, when it came to the word book I mis-typed and hit v instead of b and then o and Notes (the app I use when I’m writing on my phone) auto-filled that word as void. So my typing read - Is’t possible to make a void.

Now, consider: I have, at times, thought of the blog as my Watts Tower. That is to say, just some weird personal pursuit. But in the case of the Watts Towers it ending up being something. In the case of this blog, is it nothing? Just a void? A waste of part of my life?

That’s definitely a full stop thought. Oh auto-fill, you devil, you.

 

This is a pic of a void.