作者名称 国旗国籍

Shamus

EN

CN

2020.04.05 22:38

Excerpt from Marmion by Sir Walter Scott.

XVII.

“In brief,

my lord, we both descried
(For then I stood by Henry’s side)
The Palmer mount, and outwards ride,
Upon the earl’s own favourite steed:
All sheathed he was in armour bright,
And much resembled that same knight,
Subdued by you in Cotswold fight:
Lord Angus wished him speed.”
The instant that Fitz-Eustace spoke,
A sudden light on Marmion broke:
“Ah! dastard fool, to reason lost!”
He muttered; “’Twas nor fay nor ghost
I met upon the moonlight wold,
But living man of earthly mould.
O dotage blind and gross!
Had I but fought as wont, one thrust
Had laid De Wilton in the dust,
My path no more to cross.
How stand we now?—he told his tale
To Douglas; and with some avail;
’Twas therefore gloomed his ruggéd brow.
Will Surrey dare to entertain,
’Gainst Marmion, charge disproved and vain?
Small risk of that, I trow.
Yet Clare’s sharp questions must I shun;
Must separate Constance from the nun—
Oh, what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!
A Palmer too!—no wonder why
I felt rebuked beneath his eye:
I might have known there was but one
Whose look could quell Lord Marmion.”
62 8

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Comments

  • Shamus 2020.04.05 22:43

    EN
    CN

    I love this book so much. I read it last year. It is a historical novel written entirely in verse and published over 200 years ago. It's one of the most special and impressive pieces I have ever read and has so many beautiful lines that the lines I copied into my notes totalled nearly 16,000 words. I read it over a six month period and finished it on Dec 31st 2019. It was my final book of 2019.
  • Shamus 2020.04.05 22:47

    EN
    CN

    Perhaps the most famous lines from this novel are: Oh, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive! These have often been mistakenly attributed to Shakespeare though that's probably a compliment to Sir Walter Scott, showing what an incredible writer he was. These two lines mean that we make life complicated when we lie. For example, we make a very tangled web with each lie we tell or each deception we attempt.
  • Saraab. 2020.04.05 22:52

    AR
    DE

    Impressive.
  • Farouk 2020.04.05 23:05

    AR
    EN

    What does brief means
  • somoud 2020.04.06 00:16

    AR
    EN

    Wow ... the way you recite the poem is great👌🌹🌹
  • Alessandro 2020.04.06 02:02

    IT
    EN

    Man this is insanely hard, it's a whole new lenguage
  • Shamus 2020.04.06 08:18

    EN
    CN

    @Alessandro It was really challenging for me too and so took a long time to read. I often had to search words with this book and basically read it with a dictionary website open many times. As it's old this can be expected. I wonder if you have a similar experience with reading Machiavelli's Prince or Dante's Inferno in the original Italian? Or do they remain easy to understand?
  • Alessandro 2020.04.06 13:17

    IT
    EN

    @Shamus reading old Italian literature it's madness aswell but most of the times the terms are similiar enough to assume what the author is saying. However you can't quite get the linguistic :(

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