..
Such wealth and brilliance of personification was not found again
until Goethe, Byron, and Shelley.
He is unusually rich in descriptive phrases:
The weary sun hath made a golden set,
And by the bright track of his golden car
Gives token of a goodly day to-morrow.
The worshipp'd Sun
Peered forth the golden window of the East.
The all-cheering sun
Should in the farthest East begin to draw
The shady curtains from Aurora's bed.
The moon:
Like to a silver bow
New bent in heaven.
Titania says:
I will wind thee in my arms....
So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle
Gently entwist; the female ivy so
Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.
O how I love thee!
That same dew, which sometime on the buds
Was wont to swell, like round and orient pearls,
Stood now within the pretty flow'rets' eyes
Like tears.
(_Midsummer Night's Dream._)
Daffodils
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty.
(_Winter's Tale._)
Pale primroses
That die unmarried, ere they can behold
Bright Phoebus in his strength.
(_Winter's Tale._)
Goethe calls winds and waves lovers. In _Troilus and Cressida_ we
have:
The sea being smooth,
How many shallow bauble boats dare sail
Upon her patient breast, making their way
With those of nobler bulk!
But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage
The gentle Thetis, and anon behold
The strong-ribb'd bark through liquid mountains cut,
Bounding between two moist elements
Like Perseus' horse.
Pages:
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234