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THE POETIC FIGURES IN THE PLAY

Observe the various figures used throughout the play, as to whether they are drawn from nature or from other sources; for example, the first speech of the Duke bristles with metaphor. Note that he speaks of music as the food of love, and bids the musicians play on that the appetite may have a surfeit, images drawn from physical nature; then that the music came o'er his ear like the sweet sound that breathes upon a bank of violets, stealing and giving odor. We should expect here some continuation in the language of sound; but the Duke continues as if he had said wind instead of sound, and then wind is personified, for it breathes instead of blows on the bank of violets, and it steals their odor and gives it to him,--the music is so sweet that it seems as if its sounds came laden with the scent of violets to his ear. Here sound is personified at first as merely breathing, then it takes on moral attributes and steals and gives. Pick out and explain other figures in the same way. Which of the characters use the most beautiful imagery? Are there any who use none at all?

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