Unquiet thoughts your civil slaughter stint,
and wrap your wrongs within a pensive heart: and you my tongue that makes my mouth a mint, and stamps my thoughts to coin them words by art, Be still: for if you ever do the like, I'll cut the string that makes the hammer strike. But what can stay my thoughts they may not start, or put my tongue in durance for to die? When as these eyes, the keys of mouth and heart, Open the lock where all my love doth lie; I'll seal them up within their lids forever: So thoughts and words and looks shall die together. How shall I then gaze on my mistress' eyes? My thoughts must have some vent: else heart will break. My tongue would rust as in my mouth it lies, If eyes and thoughts were free, and that not speak. Speak then, and tell the passions of desire; Which turns mine eyes to floods, my thoughts to fire. Thoughts are free, Die Gedanken sind frei, as those students of Heidelberg University so famously declared in the language of the now ubiquitous German folk song of 1800, an enduring expression of free thought, prominent in its inspiration of psychological resistance in the 20th century’s nationalistic political populism and authoritarian cults of personality. Hence, and even in our present stage of radical technological advancement, still none can read the thoughts of the mind’s eye. However, “unquiet thoughts” are those unvoiced but disturbing ponderings of a “pensive heart”, or they do not remain silent, but are communicated, socially or self-harmful ponderings that commit a kind of “civil slaughter” or otherwise “wrap wrongs” therein. Here the songster commands these to “stint” and censures his own “hammer”, or rather, his “tongue” which inevitably transforms his mouth to an industrious “mint” that “stamps thoughts to coin them” into various “words”. This potential for self-betrayal could initiate the narrator to “cut the string” in an effort to halt his verbal mechanism. Here, the extended metaphor employs an eloquent chain of symbols that dualistically pair the deep structures and pure consciousness of our cognitive faculties with the danger posed by their expression in the material and social world, pointing then to the principle of differentiation inherent in expressing words and the arbitrariness of the signified meaning potentially referenced thereby. In the second stanza, the poet queries with Socratic logic what can “stay” or stop his thoughts, pause and inhibit them, or jail for life, or permanently exile his tongue, i.e. put it “in durance for to die”, realizing that it is the eyes which are the “keys” to mouth and heart. In other words: What the mind does not “see”, it can neither develop into a wrongful thought, nor verbally reveal. The eyes relate to mouth and heart in a way that may open the “lock”, or safe place, “where all my love doth lie”. By “seal[ing] them up within their lids forever”, he hopes to halt his mouth and save himself of the self-betrayal that cause him to commit “civil slaughter”, but banishing “thoughts and words and looks” that they might “die together” does more harm would do more harm than good. When, for example the poet laments the inability to then “gaze upon my mistress’ eyes”, he worries that his heart will break without some indispensable venting of his thoughts (or mind), stating that his “tongue would rust” in his mouth if he cannot speak freely of the thoughts inspired by what he sees. He is then resolute that his tongue should be free. “Speak then, and tell the passions of desire”, although his eyes will weep and his thoughts will burn. The song text completes a sort of closed cycle of logic, revealing that though we are aware of the damage we do with words, it is also a necessity for self-preservation. The three stanzas are a fascinating take on the natural senses and tendencies as they are related to the dualistic character of cognizant human behavior, and the inclination to communicate much passion, for better or for worse. This poem was published in John Dowland’s First Book of Songs in 1597 and in its aesthetic simplicity, is an interesting take on freedom of speech, offering wisdom to those 426 years later who are weighing the pros and cons of being outspoken in a digital age. Though its seemingly mundane application to the problematics of social media may seem less than exciting, it speaks to the very present issues presented by a reliance on digital platforms to host human interactions. Despite the age of the song, its central problem is analogous to the struggles of our contemporaries. The public market and therefore, the dominant culture is flooded with tears brought about by reactions to what we see and the regularly harmful reactions we have to what others say or do. The window into the world gives new eyes and unless their lids are sealed, they will continue to reveal the contents of our hearts by spawning unquiet thoughts and their subsequent civil slaughters, committed by our rust-free tongues.
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Aaron BurnsI'm an entrepreneurial linguist and musician, a European in a former life, and an indefatigable conversationalist (like June). I'm available for hire as coach, teacher, writer, editor, analyst, consultant, marketeer, content specialist, translator, interpreter, MC, facilitator or performer. This blog is a portfolio of my interest and abilities in various languages of which I have extensive knowledge. I am also a student of several other languages that I am less intimately familiar with and they all bring me great joy. I currently hold degrees in Language and Literature as well as in Vocal Music Performance, both fields in which poetics and interpretation are no strangers. Archives
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