“Pray you, no more of this; ’tis like the howling
of Irish wolves against the moon.” (As You Like It act 5, sc. 3)
Comments. Applicable whenever your hearing is exposed to loud and very unpleasant or distasteful music – e.g. when your neighbors rehearse with their hard rock group. General opinions about music have varied with the times. Philosophers in ancient Greece feared the effect of the lyre on the temper of the young. Nero, on the other hand, decided to learn to play the lyre and gave recitals during which listeners were of course supposed to approve enthusiastically. Which caused writer Oliver Herford (1863-1935) to say the “Perhaps it was because Nero played the fiddle, they burned Rome.” And that was not accurate either as the lyre had no bow, just like the guitar. In fact lyres were difficult to be kept in tune (not unlike violins). It has been said that an 80 year old lutanist would have spent at least 60 of the 80s tuning his lyre.
No rock group who wants to play loud, metallic music can exempt itself from having a good number of guitars, that – regrettably – can be kept in tune effortlessly.
Rock is historically recent. Opera was to the 18th and 19th centuries what loud rock is for us today. At the time it was held that only Italians could sing operas. Frederick the Great (1712-1786) said, “A German singer! I should as soon expect to get pleasure from the neighing of my horse.”
You may wish to take a look at the page describing the book “Your Daily Shakespeare”, 1387 pages filled choc-a-block with over 10,000 situations you may find yourself in or involved with, calling for the perfect repartee that will get you on the stage or at least out of the water. The analytical index is structured so that you can quickly select the best words that fit the situation. And if you like this website why not subscribe (see last menu item to the right)? You will get automatically any new blog as well as any other information and novelty that will be forthcoming, including a system to effortlessly (yes) remember hundreds of Shakespearean quotes by heart while having fun in the process. You can also chat with me – please go to the chat-page. And I promise, no sales calls, trade leads, venomous schemes, hidden plots, Machiavellian conspiracies, commercial ploys, psychological tricks, leads exchanges, barter proposals, suggestions or offers of any kind imaginable (and unimaginable).
In the play. Rosalind finds herself at the center of a tangled web involving her lover Orlando, shepherdess Phebe and shepherd Silvius. The fussing and weaning by the parties involved causes Rosalind to plead with them to shut up.
Image Source: http://chestofbooks.com/animals/dogs/Intimate-Study/Borzoi-Or-Russian-Wolfhound.html