How is it that 400 years ago Shakespeare took the time to pen godly sonnets by lakes in the summertime that speak of immeasurable, ageless devotion hidden by the most masterful and heart-stompingly wondrous conceits, and we can't get a text back?
While Will's own sexual persuasion is still the topic of many an academic debate – was he gay? Straight? Bisexual? Asexual? – his ability to capture the most severe of human emotion with the precision of a piercing arrow has cemented his iconic status as the undisputed historic voice of the human heart.
We still lean on his metaphors and refrains, joke in his rhythms, sing in his intonations, and his poetry floods our everyday romantic lexicon. Love is blind, love at first sight, I love you more than words can say – we're all plagiarists.
While we wait on that text (4G must be down) we thought we'd take a look back at some of Shakespeare's finest romantic lines. Why? Well, this week marks 400 years since the Bard's death and we'll take any excuse to delve into some Shakespearian love-making.
“The course of true love never did run smooth”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Act 1, Scene 2
“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Act 1, Scene 1
“Hear my soul speak. Of the very instant that I saw you, Did my heart fly at your service”
The Tempest – Act 3, Scene 1
“Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?”
As You Like It – Act 3, Scene 5
“Doubt that the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move his aides, Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love”
Hamlet – Act 2, Scene 2
“A heart to love, and in that heart, Courage, to make’s love known”
Macbeth – Act 2, Scene 3
“They are in the very wrath of love, and they will go together. Clubs cannot part them”
As You Like It – Act 5, Scene 2
“Kiss me, Kate, we shall be married o’Sunday”
The Taming of the Shrew – Act 2, Scene 7
"This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet."
Romeo and Juliet – Act 2, Scene 2
“I'll make my heaven in a lady's lap”
Henry VI – Act 3, Scene 2
“I love you more than words can wield the matter, Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty”
King Lear – Act 1, Scene 1
"Is love a tender thing? it is too rough,
Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn."
Romeo and Juliet – Act 1, Scene 4
"One half of me is yours, the other half yours,
Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then yours,
And so all yours."
The Merchant of Venice – Act 3, Scene 2
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