Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeno
John,
Niccolo Machiavelli wrote several plays, one of which is a great romantic comedy titled The Mandrake. Outline given in link below. Too bad Machiavelli is best known for only one of his works and that a simplified synopsis. Also, too bad most of Menander's plays are lost.
mandrake
I'm trying to remember the beginning of the Donne poem without looking it up, testing my memory, while listening to music, currently David Bowie's "Let's Dance" ("the serious moonlight" is such a great line) because Donne references the mandrake root. I am at the age where I believe every failure of memory portends something ominous, but for some reason "Let My Love Open the Door" triggered the first line, so I'm relieved:
Go and catch a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me where all past years are,
Or who cleft the Devil's foot?
I think I may have done it although I can't replicate Donne's original spelling. (Donne also says "Teach me to hear the mermaids singing" in the next line, but I never remember anything after that.
I love the idea of this play.
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