Turhaa Lemmen Touhua
1598
A comedic play written in the late 16th to early 17th century. The story revolves around King Ferdinand of Navarre, along with his companions Biron, Longaville, and Dumaine, who mockingly vow to give up women and pursue scholarly pursuits for three years. However, their resolve is hilariously tested when they find themselves falling for a group of visiting women, led by the Princess of France. The opening of the play sets the stage in Navarre's royal park, where the king and his friends declare their commitment to a life of learning, free from female distractions. They sign a promise, despite the comedic objections from Biron, who essentially questions the wisdom of their vow while expressing a keen desire for romance. The scene then transitions as they learn about the arrival of the French princess and her ladies, setting the wheels in motion for romantic entanglements and humorous misunderstandings that define the unfolding plot.
Editions
X-Ray
“From women's eyes this doctrine I derive:They sparkle still the right Promethean fire;They are the books, the arts, the academes,That show, contain and nourish all the world.””
— William Shakespeare
“Love is a familiar. Love is a devil. There is no evil angel but love.””
— William Shakespeare
“Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye.””
— William Shakespeare
“Love is familiar. Love is a devil. There is no evil angel but Love." -””
— William Shakespeare
“A jest's prosperity lies in the earOf him that hears it, never in the tongueOf him that makes it.””
— William Shakespeare
“But love, first learnèd in a lady's eyes,Lives not alone immurèd in the brain,But, with the motion of all elements,Courses as swift as thought in every power,And gives to every power a double power,Above their functions and their offices.It adds a precious seeing to the eye;A lover's eyes will gaze an eagle blind;A lover's ears will hear the lowest sound,When the suspicious head of theft is stopped:Love's feeling is more soft and sensibleThan are the tender horns of cockled snails:Love's tongue proves dainty Baccus gross in taste.For valour, is not love a Hercules,Still climbing trees in the Hesperides?Subtle as Sphinx; as sweet and musicalAs bright Apollo's lute, strung with his hair;And when Love speaks, the voice of all the godsMakes heaven drowsy with the harmony.Never durst poet touch a pen to writeUntil his ink were tempered with Love's sighs.””
— William Shakespeare
“He hath not eat paper, as it were; he hath not drunk ink; his intellect is not replenished; he is only an animal, only sensible in the duller parts.(Shakespeare, Love's Labor's Lost, IV)””
— William Shakespeare
“When icicles hang by the wall, And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,And Tom bears logs into the hall, And milk comes frozen home in pail, When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul,Then nightly sings the staring owl, To-whit! To-who!”
— William Shakespeare
“Never durst a poet touch a pen to writeUntil his ink was tempered with love's sighs.””
— William Shakespeare
