The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 13.1696  Thursday, 25 July 2002

[1]     From:   Brian Willis <
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        Date:   Wednesday, 24 Jul 2002 09:58:41 -0700 (PDT)
        Subj:   Re: SHK 13.1693 Scansion - Merry Wives of Windsor

[2]     From:   John W. Kennedy <
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        Date:   Wednesday, 24 Jul 2002 18:44:08 -0400
        Subj:   Re: SHK 13.1693 Scansion - Merry Wives of Windsor

[3]     From:   Peter Groves <
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        Date:   Thursday, 25 Jul 2002 11:28:24 +1000
        Subj:   Re: SHK 13.1693 Scansion - Merry Wives of Windsor


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Brian Willis <
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Date:           Wednesday, 24 Jul 2002 09:58:41 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: 13.1693 Scansion - Merry Wives of Windsor
Comment:        Re: SHK 13.1693 Scansion - Merry Wives of Windsor

These characters never speak verse. Perhaps the absolutely irregular
scansion of the lines indicates a purposeful craft on Shakespeare's part
to indicate the comic awkwardness of these lines for Falstaff, Pistol,
and Quickly. The very suggestion of their speaking verse makes me laugh.

Brian Willis

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           John W. Kennedy <
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Date:           Wednesday, 24 Jul 2002 18:44:08 -0400
Subject: 13.1693 Scansion - Merry Wives of Windsor
Comment:        Re: SHK 13.1693 Scansion - Merry Wives of Windsor

>I would appreciate a scansion of the following passage from the Merry
>Wives of Windsor (Arden Third Series 5.3.37-48).  The Arden edition
>suggests that "red" may be inserted after "green" in the first line, and
>that then the lines become tetrameter.  With or without that insertion,
>I find scansion of these lines very puzzling.
>
>MISTRESS QUICKLY
>
>      Fairies, black, grey, green, and white,
>      You moonshine revellers and shades of night,
>      You orphan heirs of fixed destiny,
>      Attend your office and your quality.
>      Crier Hobgoblin, make the fairy oyes.
>PISTOL
>
>      Elves, list your names; silence, you airy toys.
>      Cricket, to Windsor chimneys shalt thou leap:
>      Where fires thou find'st unraked and hearths unswept,
>      There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry:
>      Our radiant queen hates sluts and sluttery.
>
>FALSTAFF
>
>      They are fairies; he that speaks to them shall die:
>      I'll wink and couch: no man their works must eye.

It seems to me that they are quite straightforward pentameter, assuming
only that the first line is sprung.  "Fix