Rise of England Old Western Culture Reader Volume 13 Rise of England Old Western Culture Reader Volume 13 Companion to Early Moderns: Rise of England, a great books curriculum by Roman Roads Press MOSCOW, IDAHO Rise of England: Old Western Culture Reader, Volume 13 Copyright © 2019 Roman Roads Press Published by Roman Roads Press Moscow, Idaho romanroadsmedia.com Series Editor Daniel Foucachon Paradise Lost Editor: Claire Escalante Cover Design: Valerie Anne Bost, Daniel Foucachon, and Rachel Rosales Interior Layout: Valerie Anne Bost Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by the USA copyright law. Rise of England: Old Western Culture Reader, Volume 13 Roman Roads Press is an imprint of Roman Roads Media, LLC ISBN: 978-1-944482-47-3 (paperback) Version 1.0.0 2019 This is a companion reader for the Old Western Culture curriculum by Roman Roads Press. To find out more about this course, visit www.romanroadspress.com. Old Western Culture Great Books Reader Series THE GREEKS VOLUME 1 The Epics VOLUME 2 Drama & Lyric VOLUME 3 The Histories VOLUME 4 The Philosophers THE ROMANS VOLUME 5 The Aeneid VOLUME 6 The Historians VOLUME 7 Early Christianity VOLUME 8 Nicene Christianity CHRISTENDOM VOLUME 9 Early Medievals VOLUME 10 Defense of the Faith VOLUME 11 The Medieval Mind VOLUME 12 The Reformation EARLY MODERNS VOLUME 13 Rise of England VOLUME 14 Poetry and Politics VOLUME 15 The Enlightenment VOLUME 16 The Novels CONTENTS William Shakespeare Selected Sonnets. 1 King Lear .........................................4 Richard III ......................................122 Merchant of Venice ...............................242 John Donne Poems. .325 George Herbert Poems. .330 Andrew Marvell To His Coy Mistress. 333 John Milton Poems. .335 Paradise Lost ....................................345 viii SONNETS William Shakespeare SONNET 3 Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest Now is the time that face should form another; Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest, Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother. 4 For where is she so fair whose uneared womb Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry? Or who is he so fond will be the tomb Of his self-love, to stop posterity? 8 Thou art thy mother’s glass and she in thee Calls back the lovely April of her prime; So thou through windows of thine age shalt see, Despite of wrinkles, this thy golden time. 12 But if thou live, remembered not to be, Die single and thine image dies with thee. SONNET 73 That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. 4 In me thou see’st the twilight of such day 1 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE As after sunset fadeth in the west; Which by and by black night doth take away, Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest. 8 In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire, That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, As the death-bed, whereon it must expire, Consumed with that which it was nourish’d by. 12 This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well, which thou must leave ere long. SONNET 55 Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme; But you shall shine more bright in these contents Than unswept stone, besmear’d with sluttish time. 4 When wasteful war shall statues overturn, And broils root out the work of masonry, Nor Mars his sword, nor war’s quick fire shall burn The living record of your memory. 8 ’Gainst death, and all oblivious enmity Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room Even in the eyes of all posterity That wear this world out to the ending doom. 12 So, till the judgment that yourself arise, You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes. SONNET 60 Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end; Each changing place with that which goes before, In sequent toil all forwards do contend. 4 Nativity, once in the main of light, Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown’d, Crooked eclipses ’gainst his glory fight, And Time that gave doth now his gift confound. 8 Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth 2 SONNETS And delves the parallels in beauty’s brow, Feeds on the rarities of nature’s truth, And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow: 12 And yet to times in hope, my verse shall stand Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand. SONNET 103 Alack! what poverty my Muse brings forth, That having such a scope to show her pride, The argument all bare is of more worth Than when it hath my added praise beside! 4 O! blame me not, if I no more can write! Look in your glass, and there appears a face That over-goes my blunt invention quite, Dulling my lines, and doing me disgrace. 8 Were it not sinful then, striving to mend, To mar the subject that before was well? For to no other pass my verses tend Than of your graces and your gifts to tell; 12 And more, much more, than in my verse can sit, Your own glass shows you when you look in it. SONNET 106 When in the chronicle of wasted time I see descriptions of the fairest wights, And beauty making beautiful old rhyme, In praise of ladies dead and lovely knights, 4 Then, in the blazon of sweet beauty’s best, Of hand, of foot, of lip, of eye, of brow, I see their antique pen would have expressed Even such a beauty as you master now. 8 So all their praises are but prophecies Of this our time, all you prefiguring; And for they looked but with divining eyes, They had not skill enough your worth to sing: 12 For we, which now behold these present days, Have eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praise. 3 KING LEAR William Shakespeare ACT I SCENE I. King Lear’s palace. Enter KENT, GLOUCESTER, and EDMUND Kent. I thought the king had more affected the Duke of Albany than Cornwall. Gloucester. It did always seem so to us: but now, in the division of the kingdom, it appears not which of the dukes he values most; for equalities are so weighed, that curiosity in neither can make choice of either’s moiety. Kent. Is not this your son, my lord? Gloucester. His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge: I have so often blushed to acknowledge him, that now I am 10 brazed to it. Kent. I cannot conceive you. Gloucester. Sir, this young fellow’s mother could: whereupon she grew round-wombed, and had, indeed, sir, a son for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed. Do you smell a fault? 4 KING LEAR—ACT I Kent. I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it being so proper. Gloucester. But I have, sir, a son by order of law, some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account: 20 though this knave came something saucily into the world before he was sent for, yet was his mother fair; there was good sport at his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged. Do you know this noble gentleman, Edmund? Edmund. No, my lord. Gloucester. My lord of Kent: remember him hereafter as my honorable friend. Edmund. My services to your lordship. Kent. I must love you, and sue to know you better. 30 Edmund. Sir, I shall study deserving. Gloucester. He hath been out nine years, and away he shall again. The king is coming. Sennet. Enter KING LEAR, CORNWALL, ALBANY, GONERIL, REGAN, CORDELIA, and ATTENDANTS Lear. Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester. Gloucester. I shall, my liege. Exeunt GLOUCESTER and EDMUND Lear. Meantime we shall express our darker purpose. Give me the map there. Know that we have divided In three our kingdom: and ’tis our fast intent To shake all cares and business from our age; Conferring them on younger strengths, while we 40 Unburthen’d crawl toward death. Our son of Cornwall, And you, our no less loving son of Albany, We have this hour a constant will to publish Our daughters’ several dowers, that future strife May be prevented now. The princes, France and Burgundy, 5 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Great rivals in our youngest daughter’s love, Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn, And here are to be answer’d. Tell me, my daughters− Since now we will divest us both of rule, Interest of territory, cares of state− 50 Which of you shall we say doth love us most? That we our largest bounty may extend Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril, Our eldest-born, speak first. Goneril. Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter; Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty; Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare; No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour; As much as child e’er loved, or father found; A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable; 60 Beyond all manner of so much I love you. Cordelia. Aside What shall Cordelia do? Love, and be silent. Lear. Of all these bounds, even from this line to this, With shadowy forests and with champains rich’d, With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads, We make thee lady: to thine and Albany’s issue Be this perpetual.