Dictionary and Translations (no fear Shakespeare)

Bellow are words that are in my text that I either didn't know the meaning of or were totally new to me. 

Ditty: a short simple song

Example: full fathom five 

Thence: from a place or source previously mentioned

Ebb (Ebbed): out of power, who's fortunes have waned

Prime: first

Sinews: muscle or nerve

Example: extracting dear sinew

bondage: binding power 

Phoebus's: An epithet of Apollo god of the sun who rides across the sky creating day.

Example: watch 0:00-0:15 for brief description of Phoebus's Appollo  

NO FEAR SHAKESPEARE

KEY ORIGINAL TEXT, TRANSLATION, EMOTION

CONFUSED/COMFERTED

Where should this music be? I' th' air or th' earth?

It sounds no more, and sure, it waits upon

Some god o' th' island. Sitting on a bank,

Weeping again the king my father’s wrack,

This music crept by me upon the waters,

Allaying both their fury and my passion

With its sweet air. Thence I have followed it,

Or it hath drawn me rather. But ’tis gone.

No, it begins again.

Where’s that music coming from? From the earth, or the air? It’s stopped now—it must be played for some local god of the island. As I sat on the shore crying over my father’s shipwreck, I heard the music creep over the sea, calming their fury and soothing my own grief with its sweet sound. I followed it here, or I should say it dragged me here. But now it’s stopped. No, there it is again.

 CONFUSED

The ditty does remember my drowned father.

This is no mortal business, nor no sound

That the earth owes. I hear it now above me

 

This song’s about my dead father. It couldn’t be sung by a normal human. I hear it now in the air above.

 

 HAPPY

 

Most sure, the goddess

On whom these airs attend!—Vouchsafe my prayer

May know if you remain upon this island,

And that you will some good instruction give

How I may bear me here. My prime request,

Which I do last pronounce, is—O you wonder!—

If you be maid or no.

 

This must surely be the goddess that the music is being played for!—Please, I beg you to answer me, tell me if you live on this island, and tell me how I should behave here. My main question, which I save for the last, is—Oh, you marvelous creature!—are you a maiden or a goddess?

 

 

 SURPRISED

My language! Heavens,

I am the best of them that speak this speech,

Were I but where ’tis spoken

 

She speaks my language! My God, I’m the highest-ranking person who speaks this language—if only we were back where it’s spoken.

 

RELIVED/ANGRY

 

A single thing, as I am now, that wonders

To hear thee speak of Naples. He does hear me,

And that he does I weep. Myself am Naples,

Who with mine eyes, never since at ebb, beheld

The king my father wracked.

 

He would just see me for what I am, a person amazed to hear you talking about Naples. He does hear me, and that makes me cry. I myself am the King of Naples, since I saw with my own eyes—these eyes that haven’t been dry since—my father killed in a shipwreck.

 

 SAD
 

Yes, faith, and all his lords, the Duke of Milan

And his brave son being twain.

 

Yes, indeed, and all the King’s men, the Duke of Milan and his fine son too.

 

 HAPPY
 

Oh, if a virgin,

And your affection not gone forth, I’ll make you

The queen of Naples.

 

Oh, if you’re a virgin, and you haven’t given your heart to another man, then I’ll make you the queen of Naples.

 

ANGRY

No as i am a man

 

No I think your mistaken!

 

 ANGRY

  No.

I will resist such entertainment till

Mine enemy has more power.

 

No, I’ll have to decline that offer—at least as long as I’m stronger than you are.

 

 

 CONFUSED/SAD/HAPPY

So they are.

My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up.

My father’s loss, the weakness which I feel,

The wrack of all my friends, nor this man’s threats,

To whom I am subdued, are but light to me,

Might I but through my prison once a day

Behold this maid. All corners else o' th' earth

Let liberty make use of. Space enough

Have I in such a prison.

 

That’s true, they are. My strength is all gone, as if in a dream. The death of my father, my physical weakness, the loss of all my friends, the threats of this man who’s taken me prisoner—all that would be easy for me to take, if only I could look through my prison windows once a day and see this girl. I don’t need any more freedom than that. A prison like that would give me enough liberty.

 

 

TIRED/COMPLACENT

 

There be some sports are painful, and their labor

Delight in them sets off. Some kinds of baseness

Are nobly undergone. And most poor matters

Point to rich ends. This my mean task

Would be as heavy to me as odious, but

The mistress which I serve quickens what’s dead

And makes my labors pleasures. Oh, she is

Ten times more gentle than her father’s crabbed,

And he’s composed of harshness. I must remove

Some thousands of these logs and pile them up,

Upon a sore injunction. My sweet mistress

Weeps when she sees me work, and says such baseness

Had never like executor. I forget,

But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labors,

Most busiest when I do it.

 

 

 Some games are painful, but their discomfort makes them more fun. Some kinds of lowly activities are done for noble reasons. And you can do poor things that lead to rich results. This hard work would be boring and nasty to me, but I’m working for a mistress who makes me enjoy my labor. Oh, she’s ten times nicer than her father is mean, and he’s the height of crabbiness. I have thousands of logs to take away and pile up, on strict orders from him. My sweet darling cries when she sees me work and tells me that such a wonderful man never performed such lowly tasks before. These sweet thoughts relieve me and refresh me, especially when I’m slaving away busily.

HAPPY/FLIRTASHIOUS

O most dear mistress,

The sun will set before I shall discharge

What I must strive to do

 

Oh, my dear mistress, I won’t be able to finish this work until sunset at the earliest.

 

HAPPY

 

No, precious creature.

I had rather crack my sinews, break my back,

Than you should such dishonor undergo

While I sit lazy by.

 

No, my darling, I’d rather strain all my muscles and break my back than let you do work like this while I lounge around nearby.

 

 

 HAPPY/FLIRTASHIOUS

No, noble mistress. 'Tis fresh morning with me

When you are by at night. I do beseech you—

Chiefly that I might set it in my prayers—

What is your name?

 

No, noble mistress, I’m as fresh as morning when you’re near me, even at night. I beg you to tell me your name so I can use it in my prayers.

 

 HAPPY

Admired Miranda!

Indeed the top of admiration, O you,

So perfect and so peerless, are created

Of every creature’s best.

 

Admired Miranda!

Indeed the top of admiration. You’re perfect, without a rival in the world, made up of the best qualities of every creature.

 

 HAPPY/SAD

I am in my condition

A prince, Miranda—I do think, a king;

I would, not so!

Hear my soul speak.

The very instant that I saw you did

My heart fly to your service, there resides

To make me slave to it, and for your sake

Am I this patient log-man.

 

I’m a prince by birth, Miranda—maybe even a king now; though I wish I weren’t. But I’ll tell you something from my soul. The second I saw you, my heart rushed to serve you and be your slave, so here I am now, a patient log-man.

 

 

 OVER JOYED/ EXCITED

O heaven, O earth, bear witness to this sound

I Beyond all limit of what else i' th' world

Do love, prize, honor you!

 

Oh heaven, oh earth, witness what I’m about to say. More than anything else in the world, I love you, value you, and honor you.

 

 

 HAPPY

My mistress, dearest, and I thus humble ever

 

You’ll be my wife, dearest, and I’ll serve you forever.

 

 

 HAPPY/OVERJOYED

Ay, with a heart as willing

As bondage e'er of freedom. Here’s my hand.

 

Yes, with a heart more eager to bear a husband’s responsibilities than a slave ever wanted freedom. Take my hand.

 

 

 EXCITED

A thousand thousand!

 

A million goodbyes to you.

 

 PANICED/EXCITED/CONFUSED

As I hope

For quiet days, fair issue, and long life,

With such love as ’tis now, the murkiest den,

The most opportune place, the strong’st suggestion,

Our worser genius can shall never melt

Mine honor into lust to take away

The edge of that day’s celebration

When I shall think, or Phoebus' steeds are foundered,

Or night kept chained below.

 

I want peace, good kids, and a long life. To protect the love I cherish, I won’t be tempted by any opportunity to forget my honor and give in to lust. I refuse to give up the joys of my wedding day, when I’ll be so eager for my first night of love that I’ll wonder whether evening will ever come.

 

AMAZED

This is a most majestic vision,

May I be bold

To think these spirits?

 

This is a majestic vision. Are these spirits we see before us?

HAPPY

Let me live here ever.

So rare a wondered father and a wife

Makes this place paradise.

 

Let me live here forever. Such a wonderful father-in-law and wife make this place a paradise.

 

 

 

 

 

 EXCITED

No, my dearest love,

I would not for the world.

 

No, my dearest love, I wouldn’t cheat you for the whole world.

 

 OVERWELMED/HAPPY/AMAZED

Though the seas threaten, they are merciful.

I have cursed them without cause.

 

The seas may threaten us, but they show mercy sometimes too. I cursed them for no reason.

 

 HAPPY

Sir, she is mortal.

But by immortal providence, she’s mine.

I chose her when I could not ask my father

For his advice, nor thought I had one. She

Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan,

Of whom so often I have heard renown

But never saw before, of whom I have

Received a second life. And second father

This lady makes him to me.

 

No, sir, she’s human. But by the grace of God, she’s mine. I chose her for my wife when I thought I had no father to ask advice of. She’s the daughter of this famous Duke of Milan I heard so much about but never saw before. He’s given me a second life, and marrying her makes him a second father to me.