Sonnet 104 - CIV
To me, fair friend, you never can be old,
For as you were when first your eye I ey'd,
Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold,
Have from the forests shook three summers' pride,
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turn'd,
In process of the seasons have I seen,
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burn'd,
Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green.
Ah! yet doth beauty like a dial-hand,
Steal from his figure, and no pace perceiv'd;
So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand,
Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceiv'd:
For fear of which, hear this thou age unbred:
Ere you were born was beauty's summer dead.

bot by @davidaugust

THESEUS: The best in this kind are but shadows; and the worst are no worse, if imagination amend them.

— A Midsummer Night's Dream, V, i

Macbeth-inspired video game, Lili | Royal Shakespeare Company
"An interactive, trailblazing vision set in contemporary Iran with Shakespeare’s iconic female, Lady Macbeth, at the centre, from the RSC and iNK Stories."

DONALBAIN: Where we are,

There's daggers in men's smiles: the nea'er in blood,

The nearer bloody.

— Macbeth, II, iii

Sonnet 010 - X
For shame deny that thou bear'st love to any,
Who for thy self art so unprovident.
Grant, if thou wilt, thou art beloved of many,
But that thou none lov'st is most evident:
For thou art so possessed with murderous hate,
That 'gainst thy self thou stick'st not to conspire,
Seeking that beauteous roof to ruinate
Which to repair should be thy chief desire.
O! change thy thought, that I may change my mind:
Shall hate be fairer lodged than gentle love?
Be, as thy presence is, gracious and kind,
Or to thyself at least kind-hearted prove:
Make thee another self for love of me,
That beauty still may live in thine or thee.

bot by @davidaugust

In defence of teaching Shakespeare and thoughts on teenage boredom, with some help from #MarkFisher https://angrysampoetry.wordpress.com/2025/04/07/the-language-of-shakespeare-and-teenage-boredom/ #education #literature #language #shakespeare

Tubi, or not Tubi...That is the question.
Whether 'tis nobler to court HBO/MAX,
or to endure the ads of Amazon Video...

Sonnet 153 - CLIII
Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep:
A maid of Dian's this advantage found,
And his love-kindling fire did quickly steep
In a cold valley-fountain of that ground;
Which borrowed from this holy fire of Love,
A dateless lively heat, still to endure,
And grew a seething bath, which yet men prove
Against strange maladies a sovereign cure.
But at my mistress' eye Love's brand new-fired,
The boy for trial needs would touch my breast;
I, sick withal, the help of bath desired,
And thither hied, a sad distempered guest,
But found no cure, the bath for my help lies
Where Cupid got new fire; my mistress' eyes.

bot by @davidaugust

BOTTOM: And, most dear actors, eat no onions nor garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath; and I do not doubt but to hear them say, it is a sweet comedy. No more words: away! go, away!

— A Midsummer Night's Dream, IV, ii

CADE: Be it known unto thee by these presence, even the presence of Lord Mortimer, that I am the besom that must sweep the court clean of such filth as thou art. Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm in erecting a grammar school; and whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used, and, contrary to the king, his crown and dignity, thou hast built a paper-mill. It will be proved to thy face that thou hast men about thee that usually talk of a noun and a verb, and such abominable words as no Christian ear can endure to hear.

— 2 Henry VI, IV, vii

#monkeys #Shakespeare

'Monkeys.zip, aka The Monkey Project, is a live, crowdsourced experiment based on the Infinite Monkey Theorem. ...

It’s a thought experiment that’s been around for over a century, and is a fun way to ponder how an unstoppable force like Infinity collides with an immovable object like Impossible Odds.'

https://monkeys.zip/

Sonnet 135 - CXXXV
Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy Will,
And Will to boot, and Will in over-plus;
More than enough am I that vexed thee still,
To thy sweet will making addition thus.
Wilt thou, whose will is large and spacious,
Not once vouchsafe to hide my will in thine?
Shall will in others seem right gracious,
And in my will no fair acceptance shine?
The sea, all water, yet receives rain still,
And in abundance addeth to his store;
So thou, being rich in Will, add to thy Will
One will of mine, to make thy large will more.
Let no unkind, no fair beseechers kill;
Think all but one, and me in that one Will.

bot by @davidaugust

#Shakespeare had Caesar say "cowards die many times before their death, the valiant never taste of death but once." Caesar may died but once, but he was stabbed a whole bunch that one time. "I am Cinna the poet!" Cowards may live to die many times, but it's the soul that gets stabbed. #JuliusCaesar #cowardice #USpol #talkingtomyselflettingyoulisten https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/04/trump-tariffs-fear-lobby-business-congress-00006608

Source: https://flip.it/hN.-OL

GLOUCESTER: Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass,

That I may see my shadow as I pass.

— Richard III, I, ii

Sonnet 082 - LXXXII
I grant thou wert not married to my Muse,
And therefore mayst without attaint o'erlook
The dedicated words which writers use
Of their fair subject, blessing every book.
Thou art as fair in knowledge as in hue,
Finding thy worth a limit past my praise;
And therefore art enforced to seek anew
Some fresher stamp of the time-bettering days.
And do so, love; yet when they have devis'd,
What strained touches rhetoric can lend,
Thou truly fair, wert truly sympathiz'd
In true plain words, by thy true-telling friend;
And their gross painting might be better usd
Where cheeks need blood; in thee it is abusd.

bot by @davidaugust

OCTAVIUS: I have eyes upon him,

And his affairs come to me on the wind.

— Antony and Cleopatra, III, vi

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Sonnet 042 - XLII
That thou hast her it is not all my grief,
And yet it may be said I loved her dearly;
That she hath thee is of my wailing chief,
A loss in love that touches me more nearly.
Loving offenders thus I will excuse ye:
Thou dost love her, because thou know'st I love her;
And for my sake even so doth she abuse me,
Suffering my friend for my sake to approve her.
If I lose thee, my loss is my love's gain,
And losing her, my friend hath found that loss;
Both find each other, and I lose both twain,
And both for my sake lay on me this cross:
But here's the joy; my friend and I are one;
Sweet flattery! then she loves but me alone.

bot by @davidaugust