Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE PROLOGUE, by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON Poet's Biography First Line: Hey! How they push! The pit is crowded now Last Line: (they go forth.) Subject(s): Actors & Actresses; Courts & Courtiers; Plays & Playwrights ; Theater & Theaters; Tragedy; Actresses; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Dramatists; Stage Life | ||||||||
First Spectator. Hey! how they push! The pit is crowded now; A family man must come in season, sooth, If he would see the play. On Saturdays The folk, work finished, bring their wives and all, Hoarding each penny through the thrifty week. And look! an actor comes, 'tis curtain-time. Second Spectator. Nay, 'tis but Master Prologue, he that struts About the stage and mouths to please himself, Speedily making way for the real stuff, The kings and queens and all the quality That sit at banquet in the regal hall. Third Spectator. Thou liest, fool, see where they pantomime; There's more than one; faith, 'tis the very play. Second Spectator. God's love, it is a zany. Proper acts Have each their fore-piece; so it is to-day. First Spectator's Wife. Peace, dolt! They speak; only the gallants talk, The yeomanry should harken, look and learn. (The play begins without a prologue.) First Cobbler in audience. How handsomely they give the lines. Methinks There never was a scene since I was got So brave in carriage, nor by half so grand, As this of Fortunatus and his purse. 'Twas well for him he chose the chink of gold Afore aught else -- as, wisdom, beauty, health. Second Cobbler. I heard but now good Master Prentice there (Him yonder with his dame) affirm it roundly That he had sometime seen this famous piece, And how these incidents are all aside From the grave acts that make the tragedy, The true main action that will come erelong; This a mere farce to make us laugh withal. First Cobbler. Th'art drunken, man; The actors sweat as though 'twas serious; And mark you that the stage is gallant-full, Which would not be unless the act's begun. Third Cobbler. Yet, by my awl, 'tis hardly six o' the clock, And he says true, the fore-piece comes the first; Mayhap it is newfangled, Spanish, French, To speak the prologue by more mouths than one. Nay, Hodge is right, 'tis surely not the play. Second Cobbler. Ye silly knaves, I prithee prate no more; I know the playhouse, and if this be not The prologue, nothing else, I'll buy and burn Ten tapers for the church come Candlemas. (The play is enacted, and, being finished, the people jostle their way out of the pit.) First Citizen. 'Twas handsome-done, -- but still a parlous trick, This giving of the plot with ne'er a word Of fore-speech, when one looked for something such; Though I have heard it said 'tis often so, This showing of the play sans anything To gloss it. Well, I would that I had known; So would I not have chattered with my mates, Thinking the best to come, but bent my mind On Fortunatus and his fortunes great. I lost full half the lines, by our lady, yes. 'Twould fetch the tears another time. Ah me, Had I but known! A play's a mocking thing! (They go forth.) | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SOUNDS OF THE RESURRECTED DEAD MAN'S FOOTSTEPS (#20): 1. SHAKESPEARE by MARVIN BELL SOUNDS OF THE RESURRECTED DEAD MAN'S FOOTSTEPS (#20): 2. SHAKESPEARE by MARVIN BELL ELEGY IN A THEATRICAL WAREHOUSE by KENNETH FEARING LOGIC AND 'THE MAGIC FLUTE' (IMPRESSIONS OF A PREMIERE) by MARIANNE MOORE DEPRESSION DAYS (2) by PAT MORA BOY AND MOM AT THE NUTCRACKER BALLET by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE EYES LIKE LEEKS by LINDA GREGERSON BLACK SHEEP by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON |
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