Sounds in Shakespeare
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
‘Tis good,
Music oft hath such a charm
To make bad good, and good provoke to harm.
[Measure for Measure; the Duke, about a song]
If music be the food of love, play on
Give me excess of it; that surfeiting
The appetite may sicken and so die
[opening line of Twelfth Night]
The rest is silence
[Hamlet, followed by Horatio’s]
flights of angels sing thee to thy rest
[followed by the sound of Fortinbras’s army]
march within
Shakespeare, William: Richard II
How sour sweet music is, / When time is broke, and no proportion kept! / So is it in the
/music of men's lives. /
Shakespeare, William: The Merchant of Venice
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! / Here will we sit, and let the sounds of
music / Creep in our ears; soft stillness and the night / Become the touches of
sweet harmony.
10. Shakespeare, William: The Tempest
Be not afeard: the isle is full of noises, / Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt
not. /
11. Shakespeare, William: The Merchant of Venice
The man that hath no music in himself, / Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
/ Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. /
12. Shakespeare, William: The Merchant of Venice
Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter / My sober house. /
13. Shakespeare, William: Macbeth
She should have died hereafter; / There would have been a time for such a word, / Tomorrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, / Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, / To
the last syllable of recorded time; / And all our yesterdays have lighted ...
25. Shakespeare, William: Hamlet
You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the
heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my
compass.