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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MUSIC, FR. TWELFTH NIGHT by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Poet Analysis

First Line: IF MUSIC BE THE FOOD OF LOVE, PLAY ON
Last Line: THAT IT ALONE, IS HIGH FANTASTICAL.
Subject(s): LOVE - NATURE OF; MUSIC & MUSICIANS;

If Music be the food of Love, play on,
Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again, it had a dying fall:
O, it came ore my ear, like the sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of Violets:
Stealing, giving Odor. Enough, no more,
'Tis not so sweet now, as it was before.
O spirit of Love, how quick and fresh art thou,
That notwithstanding thy capacity,
Receiveth as the Sea. Nought enters there,
O what validity, and pitch so ere,
But falls into abatement, and low price
Even in a minute; so full of shapes is fancy,
That it alone, is high fantastical.




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