Almost all the comparisons from Nature in his plays are original, and
rather keen and lightning-like than elaborate, often with the
terseness of proverbs;
The strawberry grows underneath the nettle.
(_Henry V._)
Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep.
(_Henry VI._)
The waters swell before a boisterous storm.
(_Richard III._)
Sometimes they are heaped up, like Calderon's, 'making it' (true
love)
Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,
Brief as the lightning in the collied night
That in a spleen unfolds both heaven and earth,
And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!'
The jaws of darkness do devour it up.
(_Midsummer Night's Dream._)
Compared with Homer's they are very bold, and shew an astonishing
play of imagination; in place of the naive simplicity and naturalness
of antiquity, this modern genius gives us a dazzling display of wit
and thought. To quote only short examples[3]:
'Open as day,' 'deaf as the sea,' 'poor as winter,'
'chaste as unsunn'd snow.'
He ranges all Nature. These are characteristic
examples:
King Richard doth himself appear
As doth the blushing discontented sun
From out the fiery portal of the east,
When he perceives the envious clouds are bent
To dim his glory and to stain the track
Of his bright passage to the occident.
Pages:
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223