- Edition: Cymbeline
Sources and Analogues
- Introduction
- Texts of this edition
- Contextual materials
- Facsimiles
3. Epigrams 132 and 134, from Two Books of Epigrams and Epitaphs, by Thomas Bancroft (1639)
The shared use of even minor nuances of language and poetic figures can document not only patterns of literary influence but also common patterns of thought, practices, and tropes within a culture. Here, the depiction in Epigram 132 of a rejected object hanging on the wall draws upon the same cultural practice as when Imogen compares herself to a dress that is hung on a wall because it is no longer in fashion (3.4.44); and Epigram 134 pithily juxtaposes conscience-searching with prison, as Posthumus does when imprisoned in act 5, scene 3.
132. David's Harp out of Tune after its Master's Decease
How am I slighted now, whose strings
Lately entrained the ears of kings
And seemed by virtue of their charm
Th'infernal dragon to disarm!
Now being of no note at all,
My mirth hangs with me on the wall,
Though still as good as e'er did twang:
So may lost favorites go hang.
134. A Guilty Conscience
A guilty conscience is a jail wherein
The soul is chained with sorrow, charged with sin.