Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MUSIC, FR. TWELFTH NIGHT, by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE


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MUSIC, FR. TWELFTH NIGHT, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
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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