Art on 2011 Labor Day Week-End by David Hart

Midsummer Night's Dream --Thisby Stabs Herself

Act 1 Scene 2 from Henry IV by Wm Shakespeare

Act 1 Scene 2 from Henry IV by Wm Shakespeare
PRINCE HENRY I know you all, and will awhile uphold The unyoked humour of your idleness: Yet herein will I imitate the sun, Who doth permit the base contagious clouds To smother up his beauty from the world, That, when he please again to be himself, Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at, By breaking through the foul and ugly mists Of vapours that did seem to strangle him. If all the year were playing holidays, To sport would be as tedious as to work; But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come, And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents. So, when this loose behavior I throw off And pay the debt I never promised, By how much better than my word I am, By so much shall I falsify men's hopes; And like bright metal on a sullen ground, My reformation, glittering o'er my fault, Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes Than that which hath no foil to set it off. I'll so offend, to make offence a skill; Redeeming time when men think least I will.

The Burning Babe by Robert Southwell

The Burning Babe
Robert Southwell (1561(?)1595)
AS I in hoary winters night Stood shivering in the snow,
Surprised I was with sudden heat Which made my heart to glow;
And lifting up a fearful eye 5
To view what fire was near,
A pretty babe all burning bright Did in the air appear;
Who, scorchèd with excessive heat, Such floods of tears did shed, 10
As though His floods should quench His flames, Which with His tears were bred:
Alas! quoth He, but newly born In fiery heats I fry,
Yet none approach to warm their hearts 15
Or feel my fire but I!




My faultless breast the furnace is; The fuel, wounding thorns;
Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke; The ashes, shames and scorns; 20
The fuel Justice layeth on, And Mercy blows the coals,
The metal in this furnace wrought Are mens defilèd souls:
For which, as now on fire I am 25
To work them to their good,
So will I melt into a bath, To wash them in my blood.
With this He vanishd out of sight And swiftly shrunk away, 30
And straight I callèd unto mind That it was Christmas Day.

Act 1 Scene 2 from Henry IV by Wm Shakespeare

Act 1 Scene 2 from Henry IV by Wm Shakespeare
PRINCE HENRY I know you all, and will awhile uphold The unyoked humour of your idleness: Yet herein will I imitate the sun, Who doth permit the base contagious clouds To smother up his beauty from the world, That, when he please again to be himself, Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at, By breaking through the foul and ugly mists Of vapours that did seem to strangle him. If all the year were playing holidays, To sport would be as tedious as to work; But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come, And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents. So, when this loose behavior I throw off And pay the debt I never promised, By how much better than my word I am, By so much shall I falsify men's hopes; And like bright metal on a sullen ground, My reformation, glittering o'er my fault, Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes Than that which hath no foil to set it off. I'll so offend, to make offence a skill; Redeeming time when men think least I will.

Where the Bee Suck, There Suck I by William Shakespeare

"Where the Bee Sucks, There Suck I" by William Shakespeare

Where the bee sucks, there suck I:
In a cowslips bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bats back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer Lines 1-42