FIRST GENTLEMAN: Contending with the fretful element; Bids the wind blow the earth into the sea Or swell the curled waters 'bove the main, That things might change or cease; tears his white hair, Which the impetuous blasts, with eyeless rage, Catch in their fury and make nothing of; Strives in his little world of man to outstorm The to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain. This night, wherein the cub-drawn bear would couch, The lion and the belly-pinched wolf Keep their fur dry, unbonneted he runs, And bids what will take all.
William Shakespeare The History of King Lear Scene 8
FIRST GENTLEMAN: Contending with the fretful element; Bids the wind blow the earth into the sea Or swell the curled waters 'bove the main, That things might change or cease.
William Shakespeare The Tragedy of King Lear Act 3 Scene 1
GENTLEMAN: Contending with the fretful elements; Bids the wind blow the earth into the sea Or swell the curled waters 'bove the main, That things might change or cease; tears his white hair, Which the impetuous blasts, with eyeless rage, Catch in their fury and make nothing of; Strives in his little world of man to out-scorn The to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain. This night, wherein the cub-drawn bear would couch, The lion and the belly-pinched wolf Keep their fur dry, unbonneted he runs, And bids what will take all.
William Shakespeare King Lear (Conflated Text) Act 3 Scene 1
I may not be a literary expert - oh wait, that is the problem. My own personal 'Book of Sand,' The Norton Shakespeare, contains these three different versions of King Lear.
Apparently the text of King Lear has been repeatedly gone over and refuted. So while I can quote Shakespeare for all three of the above texts - I have no idea which is actually the correct one.
I'm beginning to understand why people dedicate their lives to things like comma placement in an old manuscript . . .
Posted by Diana Geleskie at May 8, 2007 4:21 PM