English Wordplay ~ Listen and Enjoy

Sonnet 91

From The Secret Life of Words by Henry Hitchings: The rich men and women of the period took pleasure in silks, jewelled brocade, sparkling tinsel and shimmering damask. When Lear berates his rebellious daughters Goneril and Regan, he points out that their gorgeous apparel 'scarcely keeps them warm'; their modern counterparts are the young women who wear more in bed than they do in a nightclub.

English School: Charlecote Park, 18th Century (Charlecote Park, Warwickshire)

Some glory in their birth, some in their skill,
Some in their wealth, some in their body's force,
Some in their garments though new-fangled ill;
Some in their hawks and hounds, some in their horse;
And every humour hath his adjunct pleasure,
Wherein it finds a joy above the rest:
But these particulars are not my measure,
All these I better in one general best.
Thy love is better than high birth to me,
Richer than wealth, prouder than garments' costs,
Of more delight than hawks and horses be;
And having thee, of all men's pride I boast:
  Wretched in this alone, that thou mayst take
  All this away, and me most wretchcd make.

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