The "All that glisters...." line I used to head yesterday's post about Olympic medal counting is, of course, from Shakespeare - The Merchant of Venice. However, it was also famously echoed in this delightful poem by Gray.
On The Death Of A Favourite Cat,
Drowned In A Tub Of Gold Fishes
'Twas on a lofty vase's side,
Where China's gayest art had dyed
The azure flowers that blow,
Demurest of the tabby kind,
The pensive Selima, reclined,
Gazed on the lake below.
Her conscious tail her joy declared;
The fair round face, the snowy beard,
The velvet of her paws,
Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,
Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes,
She saw; and purred applause.
Still had she gazed; but 'midst the tide
Two angel forms were seen to glide,
The genii of the stream:
Their scaly armour's Tyrian hue
Through richest purple to the view
Betrayed a golden gleam.
The hapless nymph with wonder saw:
A whisker first, and then a claw,
With many an ardent wish,
She stretched, in vain, to reach the prize.
What female heart can gold despise?
What cat's averse to fish?
Presumptuous maid! with looks intent
Again she stretched, again she bent,
Nor knew the gulf between:
(Malignant Fate sat by, and smiled)
The slippery verge her feet beguiled,
She tumbled headlong in.
Eight times emerging from the flood
She mewed to ev'ry wat'ry god
Some speedy aid to send.
No dolphin came, no nereid stirred;
Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heard.
A fav'rite has no friend!
From hence, ye beauties undeceived,
Know, one false step is ne'er retrieved,
And be with caution bold.
Not all that tempts your wand'ring eyes
And heedless hearts is lawful prize;
Nor all that glisters, gold.
Thomas Gray (1716-1771)
2 comments:
On a similar theme, I like this from Tolkien, about Aragorn:
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king
I like that first line because it turns around "All that glisters is not gold" and looks at it from the other side.
Thanks, Livy, I'd forgotten that one. (Well, not a big LOTR fan, you know - not of the book, anyway.)
Curious that even Tolkien went with the more mundane 'glitter'. 'Glister', I think, is one of those Shakespearian innovations; and one that sometimes gets 'corrected' to 'glitter' in later editions of the play. Gray is the only writer I can think of who retained the original 'glister' in making the reference.
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