CJTranslations - imagination

QUOTES BY TOPIC

All their minds transfigured so together, more witnesseth than fancy’s images

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Hippolyta
CONTEXT:
THESEUS
More strange than true. I never may believe
These antique fables nor these fairy toys.
Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact.
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold—
That is the madman. The lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt.
The poet’s eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to Earth, from Earth to heaven.
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
Such tricks hath strong imagination,
That if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy.
Or in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear!
HIPPOLYTA
But all the story of the night told over,
And all their minds transfigured so together,
More witnesseth than fancy’s images
And grows to something of great constancy,
But, howsoever, strange and admirable.

DUTCH:
Maar al wat zij vertellen van deez’ nacht,
En hun gezindheid, zoo gelijk veranderd,
Moet meer zijn dan een spel der phantasie.
Het toont verband, het wordt tot werkelijkheid;
Doch altijd blijft het vreemd en wonderbaar.

MORE:
Proverb: He thinks every bush a bugbear (bear)
Proverb: Great wits (poets) to madness sure are near allied
Proverb: It is no more strange than true

More witnesseth=Is evidence of more (than imagination)
Constancy=Consistency
Howsoever=In any case
Admirable=Unbelievable
Antique=Strange, ancient
Toys=Trifles
Apprehend=Perceive
Comprehends=1) Understands; 2) Deduces, imagines
Compact=Composed
Helen=Helen of Troy
Bringer=Source
Compleat:
A mere toy=Een voddery
Comprehend=Begrypen, bevatten, insluyten
To compact=In een trekken, dicht t’zamenvoegen
To witness=Getuygen, betuygen
Constancy=Standvastigheyd, volharding, bestendigheyd
Howsoever=Hoedaanig ook, hoe ook

Topics: proverbs and idioms, skill/talent, madness, imagination, memory, evidence

Am I in earth, in heaven, or in hell? Sleeping or waking, mad or well-advised?

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
Come, come, no longer will I be a fool,
To put the finger in the eye and weep
Whilst man and master laugh my woes to scorn.
Come, sir, to dinner.—Dromio, keep the gate. —
Husband, I’ll dine above with you today,
And shrive you of a thousand idle pranks.
Sirrah, if any ask you for your master,
Say he dines forth, and let no creature enter.—
Come, sister.—Dromio, play the porter well.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Am I in earth, in heaven, or in hell?
Sleeping or waking, mad or well-advised?
Known unto these, and to myself disguised!
I’ll say as they say, and persever so,
And in this mist at all adventures go.

DUTCH:
Wat is het, hemel, hel of aarde, hier?
Slaap, waak ik? Ben ik wijs of buiten west?
Ik ken mijzelven niet en zij mij best.

MORE:
Proverb: To put finger in the eye (force tears, generate sympathy)

Mist=Confusion
Well-advised=In my right mind
Persever=Persevere
To shrive=To hear confession and absolve (between condemnation and execution of punishment – origin of short shrift (korte metten))
At all adventures=Whatever the risk, consequences
Compleat:
To shrive=Biechten
At all adventures=Laat komen wat wil, ‘t gaa hoe ‘t gaa
Persevere=Volharden, volstandig blyven

Topics: imagination, evidence, judgment, reason, risk, proverbs and idioms

Be as thou wast wont to be; see as thou wast wont to see

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Oberon
CONTEXT:
OBERON
Welcome, good Puck. Seest thou this sweet sight?
Her dotage now I do begin to pity.
For, meeting her of late behind the wood,
Seeking sweet favours from this hateful fool,
I did upbraid her and fall out with her.
For she his hairy temples then had rounded
With a coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers,
And that same dew, which sometime on the buds
Was wont to swell like round and orient pearls,
Stood now within the pretty flowerets’ eyes
Like tears that did their own disgrace bewail.
When I had at my pleasure taunted her
And she in mild terms begged my patience,
I then did ask of her her changeling child,
Which straight she gave me and her fairy sent
To bear him to my bower in Fairyland.
And now I have the boy, I will undo
This hateful imperfection of her eyes.
And, gentle Puck, take this transformèd scalp
From off the head of this Athenian swain,
That, he awaking when the other do,
May all to Athens back again repair
And think no more of this night’s accidents
But as the fierce vexation of a dream.
But first I will release the fairy queen.
Be as thou wast wont to be.
See as thou wast wont to see.
Dian’s bud o’er Cupid’s flower
Hath such force and blessèd power.
Now, my Titania, wake you, my sweet queen.

DUTCH:
Wees, zooals ge placht te zijn;
Zie weer ‘t wezen, niet den schijn;
Deze struik, Diana’s roem,
Fnuike alsnu Cupido’s bloem.

MORE:
Dotage=Fondness
Orient=Lustrous (the best pearls were said to come from the Orient)
Wont to be=Accustomed to
Swain=Peasant
Compleat:
Dotage=Suffery, dweepery
Wont=Gewoonte
A country swain=Een Boer

Burgersdijk notes:
Deze struik, Diana’s roem, zal wel de Vitex agnus castus zijn; het sap uit de knop er van zou dus de werking van het viooltjenssap doen ophouden. Een tak van deze voor allerlei vlechtwerk gebezigde plant zon, in bed gelegd, volgens de oude Grieken kuischheid bevorderen; men zegt, dat dit geloof nog in Griekenland bestaat en dat de plant nog dien dienst moet doen.

Topics: love, pity, imagination

Be gone! I will not hear thy vain excuse

PLAY: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
DUKE
‘My thoughts do harbour with my Silvia nightly,
And slaves they are to me that send them flying:
O, could their master come and go as lightly,
Himself would lodge where senseless they are lying!
My herald thoughts in thy pure bosom rest them:
While I, their king, that hither them importune,
Do curse the grace that with such grace hath blessed them,
Because myself do want my servants’ fortune:
I curse myself, for they are sent by me,
That they should harbour where their lord would be.’
What’s here?
‘Silvia, this night I will enfranchise thee.’
‘Tis so; and here’s the ladder for the purpose.
Why, Phaeton,—for thou art Merops’ son,—
Wilt thou aspire to guide the heavenly car
And with thy daring folly burn the world?
Wilt thou reach stars, because they shine on thee?
Go, base intruder! Overweening slave!
Bestow thy fawning smiles on equal mates,
And think my patience, more than thy desert,
Is privilege for thy departure hence:
Thank me for this more than for all the favours
Which all too much I have bestowed on thee.
But if thou linger in my territories
Longer than swiftest expedition
Will give thee time to leave our royal court,
By heaven! My wrath shall far exceed the love
I ever bore my daughter or thyself.
Be gone! I will not hear thy vain excuse;
But, as thou lovest thy life, make speed from hence.

DUTCH:
Vertrek! en zwijg! geen uitvlucht of verschooning;
Maar ijlings, hebt ge uw leven lief, van hier!

MORE:
Harbour with=Dwell on
Lightly=Easily
Senseless=Unfeeling
Herald=Messenger
Importune=Impel
Grace=(1) Graciousness; (2) Favour
Want=Lack
Enfranchise=Liberate
Phaeton=Real father the Greek sun god, Helios; when allowed to drive his rather’s’ chariot (the sun) he came too close to the earth and was destroyed by a thunderbolt from Zeus.
For thou art=Although you are
Heavenly car=The sun
Base=Lowly
Overweening=Arrogant, presumptuous
Equal mates=Those of the same rank
Desert=Deserving
Expedition=Haste
Shadow=Image, idea
Leave=Cease
Compleat:
To harbour thoughts=Gedagten koesteren
Light=Ligt, luchtig; ligtvaardig
Senseless=Gevoeleloos, ongevoelig, zinneloos
Herald=Een krygs boode, oorlogs-aanzegger, wapenschild-voerder, wapenschild-koning
Importune=Lastig vallen, zeer dringen, gestadig aanhouden, overdringen, aandringen
Grace=Bevalligheid; genade
Want=Gebrek
To enfranchise=Tot eenen burger of vry man maaken, vryheyd vergunnen
Overweening=Laatdunkendheid, verwaandheid, eigenliefde
Desert (from to deserve)=Verdienste, verdiende loon
Expedition (dispatch)=Afvaardiging
Shadow=Een schaduw, schim

Burgersdijk notes:
Gij Phaëton, gij and’re Merops zoon. De vertaling is hier niet letterlijk; er staat eigenlijk:
„Wat! Phaëton, – want gij zijt Merops’ zoon.” — Phaëton was de zoon van Helios, den Zonnegod, en van Clymene, die met den koning Merops, in Aethiopië, gehuwd was; deze was dus Phaëton’s aardsche vader te noemen. De tusschenzin want enz. kan eenvoudig
beteekenen: want gij zijt inderdaad een Phaëton”, en dan is de vertaling op blz. 264 zeer juist. Wil men er uit lezen: „want gij zijt een zoon van Merops, niet van den zonnegod, maar van een mensch, dus van een lage afkomst,” — dan moet de hier gegevene meer letterlijke vertaling gevolgd worden; deze verklaring komt mij echter vrij gezocht voor en het ,want”, for, past er slecht bij; de eerste schijnt mij de ware te zijn,

Topics: imagination, courage, caution, patience

Bestow thy fawning smiles on equal mates

DUTCH:
Vlei uws gelijken met uw zoete lachjens,
En acht het mijn genade, — en onverdiend, —
Een gunst, dat gij heelshuids van hier ontkomt.

MORE:
Harbour with=Dwell on
Lightly=Easily
Senseless=Unfeeling
Herald=Messenger
Importune=Impel
Grace=(1) Graciousness; (2) Favour
Want=Lack
Enfranchise=Liberate
Phaeton=Real father the Greek sun god, Helios; when allowed to drive his rather’s’ chariot (the sun) he came too close to the earth and was destroyed by a thunderbolt from Zeus.
For thou art=Although you are
Heavenly car=The sun
Base=Lowly
Overweening=Arrogant, presumptuous
Equal mates=Those of the same rank
Desert=Deserving
Expedition=Haste
Shadow=Image, idea
Leave=Cease
Compleat:
To harbour thoughts=Gedagten koesteren
Light=Ligt, luchtig; ligtvaardig
Senseless=Gevoeleloos, ongevoelig, zinneloos
Herald=Een krygs boode, oorlogs-aanzegger, wapenschild-voerder, wapenschild-koning
+G38
Grace=Bevalligheid; genade
Want=Gebrek
To enfranchise=Tot eenen burger of vry man maaken, vryheyd vergunnen
Overweening=Laatdunkendheid, verwaandheid, eigenliefde
Desert (from to deserve)=Verdienste, verdiende loon
Expedition (dispatch)=Afvaardiging
Shadow=Een schaduw, schim

Topics: imagination, courage, caution, patience

Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works.

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: Ghost
CONTEXT:
But look, amazement on thy mother sits.
O, step between her and her fighting soul.
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works.
Speak to her, Hamlet.

DUTCH:
Verwaandheid werkt het sterkst in de zwakste lichamen /
Bij de zwakste werkt de inbeelding het sterkst. /
Verbeelding schokt een zwak gemoed het hevigst. /
Verbeelding werkt in ‘t zwakste lichaam ‘t sterkst.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Conceit= imagination
Compleat:
To conceit=Zich verbeelden, achten

Topics: imagination, madness

Each substance of a grief hath twenty shadows Which shows like grief itself but is not so.

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Bushy
CONTEXT:
Each substance of a grief hath twenty shadows
Which shows like grief itself but is not so;
For sorrow’s eyes, glazed with blinding tears,
Divides one thing entire to many objects,
Like perspectives, which rightly gazed upon
Show nothing but confusion, eyed awry
Distinguish form. So your sweet majesty,
Looking awry upon your lord’s departure,
Find shapes of grief, more than himself, to wail;
Which, look’d on as it is, is nought but shadows
Of what it is not. Then, thrice-gracious queen,
More than your lord’s departure weep not: more’s not seen;
Or if it be, ’tis with false sorrow’s eye,
Which for things true weeps things imaginary.

DUTCH:
Het wezen van elk leed heeft twintig schimmen,
Die wel als leed er uitzien, maar ‘t niet zijn.

MORE:

Perspectives=(a) Multifaceted crystal balls, often mounted; (b) A type of painting which, when viewed obliquely, reveals another (more complex or deeper) meaning

Schmidt:
Shadow=Any thing unsubstantial or unreal, a reflected image, having the appearance of reality
Rightly=From directly in front (hence perspective painting)
Eyes awry distinguish form=Viewed from an angle to reveal the meaning

Compleat:
Perspective=Een verschiet, doorzigt
A piece of perspective=Een afbeelding in ‘t verschiet
A perspective glass=Een verrekyker
Awry=Scheef, krom, verdraaid

Topics: grief, sorrow, imagination, perception

Flatt’ring himself in project of a power

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Lord Bardolph
CONTEXT:
LORD BARDOLPH
It was, my lord; who lined himself with hope,
Eating the air on promise of supply,
Flatt’ring himself in project of a power
Much smaller than the smallest of his thoughts,
And so, with great imagination
Proper to madmen, led his powers to death
And, winking, leapt into destruction.
HASTINGS
But, by your leave, it never yet did hurt
To lay down likelihoods and forms of hope.

DUTCH:
Geheel, Inylord; hij voedde zich met hoop,
Met de’ ijdlen klank van toegezegden bijstand,
Zich vleiend met het droombeeld eener macht,
Die minder bleek zelfs dan zijn minste raming;

MORE:

Proverb:
Look before you leap

Schmidt:
To eat the air=To be deluded with hopes, living on nothing
Likelihood=Probability, chance
Project of=A chalking out, a forming in the mind, an idea
Wink=To shut the eyes or to have them shut so as not to see
Forms of hope=Hopeful plans

Compleat:
To line=To fortify, to strengthen
To wink=Door de vingeren zien
Likelyhood=Waarschynlykheid

Topics: hope/optimism, promise, imagination, madness

He hearkens after prophecies and dreams

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Clarence
CONTEXT:
CLARENCE
Because my name is George.
RICHARD
Alack, my lord, that fault is none of yours.
He should, for that, commit your godfathers.
O, belike his majesty hath some intent
That you shall be new christened in the Tower.
But what’s the matter, Clarence? May I know?
CLARENCE
Yea, Richard, when I know, for I protest
As yet I do not. But, as I can learn,
He hearkens after prophecies and dreams,
And from the crossrow plucks the letter “G”,
And says a wizard told him that by “G”
His issue disinherited should be.
And for my name of George begins with “G”,
It follows in his thought that I am he.
These, as I learn, and such like toys as these
Have moved his Highness to commit me now.

DUTCH:
Ja, Richard, als ik ‘t weet ; doch ik verklaar,
Tot nog toe weet ik ‘t niet. Maar, zoo ik hoor,
Hecht hij aan profecieen en aan droomen,
En schrapt de letter G van ‘t ABC

MORE:
Belike=Probably
Hearkens after=Listens to
Cross-row=Alphabet
Toys=Trifles
Compleat:
Hearken=Toeluysteren, toehooren
Toy=Voddery

Burgersdijk notes:
Ter wille van een profecie, dat G enz. Volgens Holinshed was aan koning Edward voorspeld, dat een
man, wiens naam met G begon, voor zijn huis gevaarlijk zou worden, en meende hij, dat zijn broeder George van Clarence er mee bedoeld werd ; Gloster behoorde ten tijde, dat Clarence gedood werd, tot de trouwste aanhangers des konings. Dat Gloster de hand heeft gehad in George’s dood, was een volksoverlevering, die door de geschiedenis niet gestaafd wordt.

Topics: imagination, madness

He hearkens after prophecies and dreams

DUTCH:
Ja, Richard, als ik ‘t weet ; doch ik verklaar,
Tot nog toe weet ik ‘t niet. Maar, zoo ik hoor,
Hecht hij aan profecieen en aan droomen,
En schrapt de letter G van ‘t ABC

MORE:
Belike=Probably
Hearkens after=Listens to
Cross-row=Alphabet
Toys=Trifles
Compleat:
Hearken=Toeluysteren, toehooren
Toy=Voddery

Topics: imagination, madness

I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Bottom
CONTEXT:
BOTTOM
When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer.
My next is “Most fair Pyramus.” Heigh-ho! Peter Quince?
Flute the bellows-mender? Snout the tinker? Starveling?
God’s my life, stolen hence, and left me asleep? I have
had a most rare vision. I have had a dream—past the wit
of man to say what dream it was. Man is but an ass if
he go about to expound this dream. Methought I was—there is no man can tell what. Methought I was, and methought I had—but man is but a patched fool if he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report what my dream was. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream. It shall be called “Bottom’s Dream” because it hath no bottom. And I will sing it in the latter end of a play before the duke. Peradventure, to make it more gracious, I shall sing it at her death.

DUTCH:
Ik heb een allervreerndst gezicht gehad. k heb een droom gehad, — het gaat boven iemand zijn verstand, te zeggen, wat voor een
droom het was.

MORE:
Stolen hence=Sneaked away
Go about=Try
Patched fool=Jester, idiot
Offer=Venture
Hath no bottom=Is unfathomable, without substance
Peradventure=Perhaps
Compleat:
Hence=Vanhier, hieruyt
To go about=Zich onderwinden of bemoeyen
Patched=Gelapt, geflikt
To bottom=Gronden, grondvesten
Peradventure=Bygeval, misschien

Topics: imagination, madness

In my mind’s eye, Horatio.

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
My father—methinks I see my father.
HORATIO
Where, my lord?
HAMLET
In my mind’s eye, Horatio.

DUTCH:
In mijn geestes oog, Horatio /
In ‘t oog mijns geestes, Horatio

MORE:

“In my mind’s eye” is still in use today, as it was coined by Shakespeare.
However, the idea of a mental creation goes back at least as far as Chaucer in ‘The Man of Law’s Tale’:
“It were with thilke eyen of his mynde, With whiche men seen, after that they been blynde.”

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised, imagination

Live a little; comfort a little; cheer thyself a little

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 2.6
SPEAKER: Orlando
CONTEXT:
ADAM
Dear master, I can go no further. Oh, I die for food.
Here lie I down and measure out my grave. Farewell, kind master.
ORLANDO
Why, how now, Adam? No greater heart in thee? Live a
little, comfort a little, cheer thyself a little. If
this uncouth forest yield anything savage, I will either
be food for it or bring it for food to thee. Thy
conceit is nearer death than thy powers. For my sake, be
comfortable. Hold death awhile at the arm’s end. I will
here be with thee presently, and if I bring thee not
something to eat, I will give thee leave to die. But if
thou diest before I come, thou art a mocker of my labour.
Well said. Thou look’st cheerly, and I’ll be with thee
quickly. Yet thou liest in the bleak air. Come, I will
bear thee to some shelter, and thou shalt not die for
lack of a dinner if there live anything in this desert.
Cheerly, good Adam.

DUTCH:
Komaan, Adam, hoe is het? hebt gij niet meer hart
in ‘t lijf? Leef nog wat, verman u wat, vervroolijk u
wat! Als dit woeste woud iets wilds voortbrengt, zal
ik er spijs voor zijn, of het u als spijze brengen.

MORE:
Conceit=Conception, idea, image in the mind
Power=Vital organ, physical or intellectual function
Comfortable=Comforted
Well said=Well done
Cheerly=Cheerful
Anything savage=Game
Compleat:
Conceit=Waan, bevatting, opvatting, meening
Power (ability or force)=Vermogen, kracht
Comfortable=Vertroostelyk, troostelyk
Cheerful (chearfull)=Blymoedig, blygeestig
Savage=Wild

Topics: life, wellbeing, imagination, nature, proverbs and idioms

Look how imagination blows him

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 2.5
SPEAKER: Fabian
CONTEXT:
FABIAN
O, peace! Now he’s deeply in. Look how
imagination blows him.
MALVOLIO
Having been three months married to her, sitting in my
state—
SIR TOBY BELCH
Oh, for a stone-bow, to hit him in the eye!
MALVOLIO
Calling my officers about me, in my branched velvet
gown, having come from a daybed, where I have left
Olivia sleeping—
SIR TOBY BELCH
Fire and brimstone!
FABIAN
O, peace, peace!
MALVOLIO
And then to have the humour of state, and after a demure
travel of regard, telling them I know my place as I
would they should do theirs, to ask for my kinsman Toby—

DUTCH:
O, stil! Die overpeinzing maakt een prachtigen kalkoenschen haan van hem; wat blaast hij zich op onder zijn uitgespreide veêren !

MORE:
Blows=Puffs up
State=Chair of state
Stone-bow=Catapult
Officers=Attendants
Branched=Embroidered
Gown=Indoor coat
Daybed=Couch
Fire and brimstone=Punishment in hell
Humour of state=Temperament of authority
Demure=Gravely
Travel of regard=Surveying the room
Compleat:
To blow up=Opblaazen
State=Staat, rang
Stone-bow=Key-boog, kluit-boog
Officer=Een amptman, amptenaar, bevelhebber, beampte, bediende, officier
Branched velvet=Gebloemd fluweel
Gown=Een tabbaard, tabberd, samaar
Brimstone=Zwavel, sulfer
Demure=Stemmig, staatig, bedaard, ernstig, deftig

Topics: imagination, authority, status

Nature wants stuff to vie strange forms with fancy

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Cleopatra
CONTEXT:
CLEOPATRA
Think you there was or might be such a man
As this I dreamt of?
DOLABELLA
Gentle madam, no.
CLEOPATRA
You lie up to the hearing of the gods.
But if there be nor ever were one such,
It’s past the size of dreaming. Nature wants stuff
To vie strange forms with fancy, yet t’ imagine
An Antony were nature’s piece ’gainst fancy,
Condemning shadows quite.
DOLABELLA
Hear me, good madam.
Your loss is as yourself, great, and you bear it
As answering to the weight. Would I might never
O’ertake pursued success, but I do feel,
By the rebound of yours, a grief that smites
My very heart at root.

DUTCH:
Gij liegt, uw leugen schreit ten hemel. Maar
Leeft of leefde ooit een man als deze, droomen
Kan hem niet denken. Moog’ natuur vaak stof
Tot overvleug’ling der verbeelding missen,
Dacht ze een Antonius, fantasie moet wijken;
Niets zijn haar schimmen.

MORE:
Up to the hearing of the gods=Blatantly, that even the gods hear
Size of=Capacity of (dreams)
Wants=Lacks
Vie=Compete
Fancy=Fantasy
Overtake pursued success=Achieve desired success
Rebound=Reflection
Compleat:
Want=Gebrek
To vie=Om stryd speelen, yveren
Fancy=Inbeelding, verbeelding, neyging

Topics: imagination, achievement, nature

No levelled malice infects one comma in the course I hold

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Poet
CONTEXT:
POET
Admirable: how this grace
Speaks his own standing! what a mental power
This eye shoots forth! how big imagination
Moves in this lip! to the dumbness of the gesture
One might interpret.
PAINTER
It is a pretty mocking of the life.
Here is a touch; is’t good?
POET
I will say of it,
It tutors nature: artificial strife
Lives in these touches, livelier than life.
PAINTER
How this lord is follow’d!
POET
The senators of Athens: happy man!
PAINTER
Look, more!
POET
You see this confluence, this great flood of visitors.
I have, in this rough work, shaped out a man,
Whom this beneath world doth embrace and hug
With amplest entertainment: my free drift
Halts not particularly, but moves itself
In a wide sea of wax: no levelled malice
Infects one comma in the course I hold;
But flies an eagle flight, bold and forth on,
Leaving no tract behind.

DUTCH:
Geen fijne boosheid
Vergiftigt éene comma van mijn voortgang;
Die vliegt eens aad’laars vlucht, koen, recht vooruit,
En laat geen spoor zelfs achter.

MORE:
Confluence=Gathering
Rough work=Draft
Beneath world=Earthly world
Amplest=Lavish
Entertainment=Welcome
Free drift=Inspiration, spontaneous thought
Levelled=Targeted
Infect=Affect
Tract=Trail
Compleat:
Confluence=Saamenvloeijing, t’saamenloop, toevloed
A rough draught=Een ruuw ontwerp
Ample=Wydlustig, breed
Drift=Oogmerk, opzet, vaart
Entertainment=Onthaal
Levelled at=Na gemikt, na gedoeld; levelling at=Een mikking, doeling

Burgersdijk notes:
Eeen zee van was. De hoogdravende dichter zinspeelt op schrijftafeltjes, die met was overtogen waren.

Topics: nature, life, imagination

O, I have passed a miserable night, so full of ugly dreams, of ugly sights

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 1.4
SPEAKER: Clarence
CONTEXT:
KEEPER
Why looks your grace so heavily today?
CLARENCE
O, I have passed a miserable night,
So full of ugly dreams, of ugly sights,
That, as I am a Christian faithful man,
I would not spend another such a night
Though ’twere to buy a world of happy days,
So full of dismal terror was the time.
KEEPER
What was your dream, my lord? I pray you tell me.
CLARENCE
Methoughts that I had broken from the Tower
And was embarked to cross to Burgundy,
And in my company my brother Gloucester,
Who from my cabin tempted me to walk
Upon the hatches. Thence we looked toward England
And cited up a thousand fearful times,
During the wars of York and Lancaster
That had befall’n us. As we paced along
Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,
Methought that Gloucester stumbled, and in falling
Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard
Into the tumbling billows of the main.
O Lord, methought what pain it was to drown,
What dreadful noise of waters in my ears,
What sights of ugly death within my eyes.
Methoughts I saw a thousand fearful wracks,
A thousand men that fishes gnawed upon,
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scattered in the bottom of the sea.

DUTCH:
O, ‘k heb een nacht doorleefd van diepe ellend,
Vol bange droomen, schrikk’lijke gezichten

MORE:
Heavily=Sad
Broken=Escaped
Cited up=Recalled
Giddy=Precarious
To stay=To support
Main=The sea
Compleat:
Heavy=Zwaar, zwaarmoedig, bedrukt, bedroefd
Giddy=Duyzelig, zwymelachtig
Giddy-headed=Ylhoofdig, hersenloos, wervelziek
Stay=Steun

Topics: conscience, emotion and mood, imagination

Or in the night, imagining some fear, how easy is a bush supposed a bear!

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Theseus
CONTEXT:
THESEUS
More strange than true. I never may believe
These antique fables nor these fairy toys.
Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact.
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold—
That is the madman. The lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt.
The poet’s eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to Earth, from Earth to heaven.
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
Such tricks hath strong imagination,
That if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy.
Or in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear!
HIPPOLYTA
But all the story of the night told over,
And all their minds transfigured so together,
More witnesseth than fancy’s images
And grows to something of great constancy,
But, howsoever, strange and admirable.

DUTCH:
Als ‘s nachts haar angst bekruipt in ‘t woud,
Zij licht een ruigte voor een ondier houdt.

MORE:
Proverb: He thinks every bush a bugbear (bear)
Proverb: Great wits (poets) to madness sure are near allied
Proverb: It is no more strange than true

More witnesseth=Is evidence of more (than imagination)
Constancy=Consistency
Howsoever=In any case
Admirable=Unbelievable
Antique=Strange, ancient
Toys=Trifles
Apprehend=Perceive
Comprehends=1) Understands; 2) Deduces, imagines
Compact=Composed
Helen=Helen of Troy
Bringer=Source
Compleat:
A mere toy=Een voddery
Comprehend=Begrypen, bevatten, insluyten
To compact=In een trekken, dicht t’zamenvoegen
To witness=Getuygen, betuygen
Constancy=Standvastigheyd, volharding, bestendigheyd
Howsoever=Hoedaanig ook, hoe ook

Topics: proverbs and idioms, skill/talent, madness, imagination, memory, evidence

Such tricks hath strong imagination

DUTCH:
Verbeelding is in grillen overrijk;
Zoodra zij iets gevoelt, dat haar verheugt,
Staat haar voor ‘t oog een brenger van de vreugd;

MORE:
Proverb: He thinks every bush a bugbear (bear)
Proverb: Great wits (poets) to madness sure are near allied
Proverb: It is no more strange than true

Topics: proverbs and idioms, skill/talent, madness, imagination, memory, evidence

Take no notice, nor build yourself a trouble out of his scattering and unsure observance

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Iago
CONTEXT:
OTHELLO
Thou dost conspire against thy friend, Iago,
If thou but think’st him wronged and mak’st his ear
A stranger to thy thoughts.
IAGO
I do beseech you,
Though I perchance am vicious in my guess,
As, I confess, it is my nature’s plague
To spy into abuses, and oft my jealousy
Shapes faults that are not, that your wisdom,
From one that so imperfectly conceits,
Would take no notice, nor build yourself a trouble
Out of his scattering and unsure observance.
It were not for your quiet nor your good,
Nor for my manhood, honesty, and wisdom
To let you know my thoughts.

DUTCH:
Geen acht doe slaan, en dat ge uzelf niet kwelt,
Met wat hij hier en daar, onzeker, zag.

MORE:
Make his ear a stranger to thy thoughts=Don’t mention your suspicions
Perchance=Maybe
Vicious in my guess=I may be wrong
Jealousy=Suspicion
Imperfectly conceits=Imagines wrongly
Scattering=Random
Observance=Observations
Compleat:
Perchance=By geval
Vicious=Ondeugend, snood
Jealousy (Jealoesie)(or suspicion)=Agterdogtig
Full of jealousies=Zeer agterdenkend
Imperfect=Onvolmaakt, onvolkomen
Conceit=Waan, bevatting, opvatting, meening
Scattering=Verstrooijing, verspreyding
Observance=Gedienstigheid, eerbiedigheid, opmerking, waarneeming

Topics: imagination, conspiracy, secrecy, suspicion

The hours come back. That did I never hear.

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
The hours come back? That did I never hear.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
O yes, if any hour meet a sergeant, he turns back for very fear.
ADRIANA
As if time were in debt. How fondly dost thou reason!
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Time is a very bankrupt and owes more than he’s worth to season.
Nay, he’s a thief too. Have you not heard men say
That time comes stealing on by night and day?
If he be in debt and theft, and a sergeant in the way,
Hath he not reason to turn back an hour in a day?
ADRIANA
Go, Dromio. There’s the money. Bear it straight,
And bring thy master home immediately.
Come, sister, I am pressed down with conceit:
Conceit, my comfort and my injury.

DUTCH:
Als of de tijd in schulden stak! hoe dol! wie hoorde ‘t ooit?

MORE:
Hours come back=Go backwards
Sergeant=Officer often responsible for arrests
Fondly=Foolishly
Pressed down=Depressed
Conceit=Imagination
Compleat:
Fond=Zot, dwaas, ongerymt
Sergeant=Een gerechtsdienaar, gerechtsboode
Fond=Zot, dwaas, ongerymt
To press down=Neerdrukken
Conceit=Waan, bevatting, opvatting, meening

Topics: time, reason, debt/obligation, imagination, emotion and mood

They are but beggars that can count their worth.

PLAY: Romeo and Juliet
ACT/SCENE: 2.6
SPEAKER: Juliet
CONTEXT:
Conceit, more rich in matter than in words,
Brags of his substance, not of ornament.
They are but beggars that can count their worth.
But my true love is grown to such excess
I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth.

DUTCH:
t Gevoel is rijk in schatten, niet in woorden;
‘t Is trotsch op wat het is, maar mint geen praal;
Wie weet, hoeveel hij waard is, is een beed’laar;

MORE:
Conceit=imagination
Compleat:
To conceit=Zich verbeelden, achten
A pretty conceit=een aardige verbeelding

Topics: poverty and wealth, life, value, imagination, love

Thou dost conspire against thy friend, Iago, if thou but thinkest him wronged and makest his ear a stranger to thy thoughts

DUTCH:
Neen, Jago, zoo verraadt ge uw vriend, indien gij
Vermoedt, dat hij gekrenkt wordt, en zijn oor,
Wat gij vermoedt, onthoudt.

Topics: imagination, conspiracy, secrecy, suspicion

Though I perchance am vicious in my guess

DUTCH:
Ik smeek u dringend,
Daar ik wellicht in mijn vermoeden faal,
Want ja, de vloek is ‘t van mijn wezen, steeds
Wat boos is na te speuren, en mijn argwaan
Schèpt dikwijls feilen;

Topics: imagination, conspiracy, secrecy, suspicion

Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot Unlikely wonders

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: King Richard II
CONTEXT:
I have been studying how I may compare
This prison where I live unto the world:
And for because the world is populous
And here is not a creature but myself,
I cannot do it; yet I’ll hammer it out.
My brain I’ll prove the female to my soul,
My soul the father; and these two beget
A generation of still-breeding thoughts,
And these same thoughts people this little world,
In humours like the people of this world,
For no thought is contented. The better sort,
As thoughts of things divine, are intermix’d
With scruples and do set the word itself
Against the word:
As thus, ‘Come, little ones,’ and then again,
‘It is as hard to come as for a camel
To thread the postern of a small needle’s eye.’
Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot
Unlikely wonders; how these vain weak nails
May tear a passage through the flinty ribs
Of this hard world, my ragged prison walls,
And, for they cannot, die in their own pride.

DUTCH:
Eerzuchtige gedachten vormen plannen,
Zoo dol als moog’lijk, als: met zwakke nagels
Door dezer harde wereld kiezelribben

MORE:

Humours=Disposition, temperament
Scruples=Doubts
“Come, little ones”=Reference to the ease (and difficulty) of entering heaven. “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God” and “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24)
Ambition=Desire of superiority, of honour and power
Plot=Contrive
Unlikely=Improbable
Flinty ribs=Castle walls

Compleat:
Every man bath his humour=Yder mensch heeft zyn eigen aart
Scrupule, scruple=Zwaarigheid
Ambition=Staatzucht, eergierigheid
Unlikely=Onwaarschynelyk

Topics: emotion and mood, plans/intentions/, imagination

Trifles light as air are to the jealous confirmations
strong as proofs of holy writ.

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Iago
CONTEXT:
EMILIA
If it be not for some purpose of import,
Give ’t me again. Poor lady, she’ll run mad
When she shall lack it.
IAGO
Be not acknown on ’t,
I have use for it. Go, leave me.
I will in Cassio’s lodging lose this napkin
And let him find it. Trifles light as air
Are to the jealous confirmations strong
As proofs of holy writ. This may do something.
The Moor already changes with my poison.
Dangerous conceits are in their natures poisons
Which at the first are scarce found to distaste,
But with a little act upon the blood
Burn like the mines of sulphur.
I did say so.
Look, where he comes. Not poppy nor mandragora
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou owedst yesterday.

DUTCH:
k Verlies in Cassio’s woning dezen zakdoek,
En zorg, dat hij hem vindt. Voor de ijverzucht
Zijn dingen, ijl als lucht, bewijzen, sterker
Dan spreuken uit de Schrift

MORE:
Proverb: As light as air

Napkin=Handkerchief
Conceits=Conceptions, ideas
To distaste=To be distasteful, unsavoury
Drowsy=Sleep-inducing
Mandragora=Opiate
Compleat:
Conceit=Waan, bevatting, opvatting, meening
Distaste=Weersmaak, weerzin, misnoegen
To give distaste=Misnoegen veroorzaaken
To distaste=Geen smaak in iets vinden; (to take distaste)=Een walg krygen
Drowsy=Slaaperig, vaakerig, vadsig, druyloorig

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, envy, perception, imagination

Until I know this sure uncertainty I’ll entertain the offered fallacy

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
To me she speaks; she moves me for her theme.
What, was I married to her in my dream?
Or sleep I now and think I hear all this?
What error drives our eyes and ears amiss?
Until I know this sure uncertainty
I’ll entertain the offered fallacy.
LUCIANA
Dromio, go bid the servants spread for dinner.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
O, for my beads! I cross me for a sinner.
This is the fairy land. O spite of spites!
We talk with goblins, ouphs, and sprites:
If we obey them not, this will ensue:
They’ll suck our breath, or pinch us black and blue.

DUTCH:
Het is tot mij, dat zij die reed’nen houdt!
Wat! ben ik in den droom met haar getrouwd?
Of slaap ik nu en meen ik, dat ik hoor?
Wat vreemde waan verdwaast mijn oog en oor?
Maar kom, tot mij dit raadsel wordt verklaard,
Zij de opgedrongen dwaling thans aanvaard

MORE:
Proverb: To beat (pinch) one black and blue. Pinching was a traditional punishment associated with fairies

Move=To urge, incite, instigate, make a proposal to, appeal or apply to (a person)
Error=Mistake, deception, false opinion
Ouph=Elf, goblin
Uncertainty=A mystery, the unknown
Entertain=Accept (the delusion)
Compleat:
To move=Verroeren, gaande maaken; voorstellen
Error=Fout, misslag, dwaaling, dooling
To lie under a great errour=In een groote dwaaling steeken
Beadsman=een Bidder, Gety=leezer, Gebed-opzegger

Topics: imagination, evidence, judgment, punishment, proverbs and idioms

Wilt thou reach stars, because they shine on thee?

PLAY: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
DUKE
‘My thoughts do harbour with my Silvia nightly,
And slaves they are to me that send them flying:
O, could their master come and go as lightly,
Himself would lodge where senseless they are lying!
My herald thoughts in thy pure bosom rest them:
While I, their king, that hither them importune,
Do curse the grace that with such grace hath blessed
them,
Because myself do want my servants’ fortune:
I curse myself, for they are sent by me,
That they should harbour where their lord would be.’
What’s here?
‘Silvia, this night I will enfranchise thee.’
‘Tis so; and here’s the ladder for the purpose.
Why, Phaeton,—for thou art Merops’ son,—
Wilt thou aspire to guide the heavenly car
And with thy daring folly burn the world?
Wilt thou reach stars, because they shine on thee?
Go, base intruder! Overweening slave!
Bestow thy fawning smiles on equal mates,
And think my patience, more than thy desert,
Is privilege for thy departure hence:
Thank me for this more than for all the favours
Which all too much I have bestowed on thee.
But if thou linger in my territories
Longer than swiftest expedition
Will give thee time to leave our royal court,
By heaven! My wrath shall far exceed the love
I ever bore my daughter or thyself.
Be gone! I will not hear thy vain excuse;
But, as thou lovest thy life, make speed from hence.

DUTCH:
Verstout ge u, ‘s hemels zonnespan te mennen
En de aard te blaak’ren in uw euvelmoed?
Grijpt gij naar sterren, wijl zij u bestralen?
Van hier, verwaten dief! vermeet’le slaaf!

Topics: imagination, courage, caution, patience