I am beginning a new series of quotations, in which I will feature pieces from one particular author for several weeks. I begin with the best and most important, William Shakespeare.
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You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismayed: be cheerful, sir.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped tow’rs, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with sleep.
The Tempest (4. 1. 146-158)
Shakespeare, William. The Complete Works of Shakespeare Seventh Edition. David
Bevington. Editor. Pearson. Boston. 2014.
I like your quote, Charles. My favorite is the overused song of the witches:
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Cool it with a baboon’s blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.
Completely wonderful words. I am sure this extract has inspired many of the fantasy and supernatural books that are popular today.
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Hi Robbie, Yes, this is wonderful, and I am sure it has inspired much work!
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That quotation was deserving of being read twice. Excellent!
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Jennie, thank you!
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You’re welcome, Charles!
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I think this is lovely. Thank you.
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You are very welcome!
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Literature doesn’t get much better than this, does it?
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Liz, I agree with you! No, it doesn’t get better than this.
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🙂
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Ah, yes. The works of imagination “shall dissolve” like an “insubstantial pageant,” but the works of the bard like the works of Prospero give evidence that imagination once dissolved transforms reality for good.
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thank you!
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