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Elizabethan Quotes

Browse 34 quotes about Elizabethan.

Elizabethan Quotes

“Then it cleared: farther down the hallway, a door had opened on a flourish of sunlight. Into the light stepped a youth, white and gold, a celestial apparition—the Earl of Southampton. His face was beardless still, the eyes pale blue and with the lashless look of redheads. His auburn tresses, artfully curled, fell almost to his elbows. He was six feet tall and lovely as a waterfall, as pretty as a flowering tree. White silk, white velvet, cloth of gold. A gold filigree earring in one ear. Emilia knew him from her days of attendance on the Queen: an uncanny, androgynous youth with the despotic pout of the beautiful, who can never be sufficiently loved.”

BeautifulLovelyDescriptionImageryDescriptiveElizabethanThe HeavensSandra Newman
Book:The Heavens
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“Sonnet 73: That time of year thou mayst in me behold That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou see'st the twilight of such day As after sunset fadeth in the west, Which by and by black night doth take away, Death's second self, that seals up all in rest. In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, As the death-bed whereon it must expire, Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by. This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well which thou must leave ere long.”

LovePoetryTimeAgingAutumnMortalityShakespeareElizabethanEnglishliteratureSonnet73
Book:Love Poems and Sonnets
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“The Federal Building's large Ceremonial Courtroom, reserved for show trials, is veneered in executive teak. Bench, counsel tables, jury boxes, entrances, and exits -- all are as formally arranged as an Elizabethan stage. Only the drama is shapeless, at least to those of us who have never seen a trial before. We see only random movements, sequences, comings and goings, no form or agenda apparent. To us the action is less like watching a play than watching an aquarium.”

PlayShowsActionFormStageMovementBuildingDramaTablesBoxesTrialsAgendasExecutivesSequenceJuryReservedExitBenchesEntrancesCourtroomAquariumsElizabethan
Author:Shana Alexander
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“Before the famine, which was in the 1840s, that was an emotional turning point... There are various documents showing how the Elizabethan English, in particular, were shocked by Irish displays of affection, by the way women acted toward strangers, walking up and putting their arms around them and kissing them right full on the mouth.”

WayEmotionalParticularArmsWalkingKissingMouthsAffectionVariousStrangerDisplayDocumentsShockedFamineTurning PointsElizabethan
Author:Frank McCourt
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“But in reading Shakespeare and in reading about Edward de Vere, it's quite apparent that when you read these works that whoever penned this body of work was firstly well-travelled, secondly a multi-linguist and thirdly someone who had an innate knowledge of the inner workings and the mechanisms of a very secret and paranoid Elizabethan court. Edward de Vere ticks those three boxes and many more. William of Stratford gave his wife a bed when he died [his second best bed].”

WellsBodyThreeReadingSecretWifeBedDiedCourtBoxesMechanismInnateParanoidTickSecond BestLinguistsElizabethanReading Shakespeare
Author:Rhys Ifans
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“I try to find a style that matches the book. In the Baroque Cycle, I got infected with the prose style of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, which is my favorite era. It's recent enough that it is easy to read - easier than Elizabethan English - but it's pre-Victorian and so doesn't have the pomposity that is often a problem with 19th-century English prose. It is earthy and direct and frequently hilarious.”

TryingBookEnoughProblemEasyCenturyStyleEasierLateDirectMy FavoriteErasProseCycles19th CenturyVictorian18th CenturyBaroqueElizabethanPomposity
Author:Neal Stephenson
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“Ruin, weariness, death, perpetually death, stand grimly to confront the other presence of Elizabethan drama which is life: life compact of frigates, fir trees and ivory, of dolphins and the juice of July flowers, of the milk of unicorns and panthers’ breath, of ropes of pearl, brains of peacocks and Cretan wine.”

BrainTreeFlowerDramaBreathsWineRuinsMilkPearlsRopeJuiceJulyWearinessUnicornDolphinsIvoryCompactPanthersPeacockElizabethan
Book:The Common Reader
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