Lightfooted as it is, this song from the comedy\u00a0Twelfht-Night<\/i>\u00a0is not only a\u00a0reproach, it is also a revenge. The story it tells is identical to this removed\u00a0part of TWS, but in OMM we hear things from his point of view. This is her\u2019s:<\/p>\n
Let nobody blame him, his scorn I approve.<\/i> \u201cIf she is unfaithfull to me, why should I be any better?\u201d is all the justification he needs for his own betrayal. Well, who should blame him? Not his heartbroken mistress anyway. But rewritten in OMM-terms the same confession\u00a0appears to state things rather directly: \u201cTo be honest; the sweet-and-twenty that must kiss me without delay, is not that mistress mine.\u201d<\/p>\n Don\u2019t tell me this comes as a surprise. You have been told by the fool’s very first\u00a0line; the mistress is not there! And doubling the number of the \u2018True Love\u2019s\u2019\u00a0lovers is only the first in a host of brilliant moves that makes\u00a0Twelfth-Night<\/i>\u00a0marvellous lecture. Take for instance these three or four innocent looking\u00a0lines from act II; iii<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 Clown \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0:\u00a0Would you have a love-song, or a song On which request the clown, at the spur of the moment, performs a song on that special kind of love that cares not for good life. Meanwhile his songtext’s architectural beauty is of the class that forces heads to turn. O! just stay a\u00a0while with this love(ly) poem, and see how gracious she is: without\u00a0exception all triplets feature a close-knit and passionate couple(t), followed\u00a0at a short intake of breath\u2019s distance by a single (line). These singles are\u00a0making pairs as well, nevertheless, being separated their passion is\u00a0obviously on the back burner: they are all unromantic observations.<\/p>\n O mistress mine! where are you roaming? That can sing both high and low.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/em>etc.<\/p>\n And this first sample of the architecture is enough to betray the love\u00a0story to be nothing but a fairy tale. Compared to the remarkable precise\u00a0rhyme in the other lines – unlike to many other languages, English rhyme is not obliged to match both phonetically and visually – the couple(t)\u00a0of the mistress and her true love ends up in sharp disagreement. A fact\u00a0linking the song subtly but firmly to TWS (the willow being a symbol for\u00a0forsaken or betrayed love); the poor soul is apparently not spilling tears by\u00a0the stream for nothing.<\/p>\n Because TWS is also attached to SD, this centre piece connects the\u00a0Herbert with OMM. This relation is superficial yet, but a more direct\u00a0intercourse is to be derived from the similarity between the musical lines.\u00a0Still the outer pair will only meet through mediation of its go-between:<\/p>\n —<\/span><\/p>\n —<\/span><\/p>\n go to next chapter<\/a>\u00a0– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/span>\u00a0back to the previous chapter<\/a><\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lightfooted as it is, this song from the comedy\u00a0Twelfht-Night\u00a0is not only a\u00a0reproach, it is also a revenge. The story it tells is identical to this removed\u00a0part of TWS, but in OMM we hear things from his point of view. This … Continue reading
\nI call\u2019d my Love false love, but what said he then?<\/i>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em>Sing, willow, willow, willow,<\/i>
\nIf I court moe women, you\u2019ll couch with moe men.<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nof good<\/i>\u00a0(read: virtuous)\u00a0life?
\n<\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0 Sir Toby \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0:\u00a0A love-song, a love song.
\n<\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0Sir Andrew \u00a0:\u00a0Ay, ay, I care not for good life.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n
\nO! stay and hear; your true love\u2019s coming,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n