AN ARTIFICIAL NIGHT ARC contest #2: What's in a name?

[seanan_mcguire]

Suggested by the lovely valdary:

All Toby books (and in-universe short stories) have titles taken from the works of Shakespeare. There's a lot of Shakespeare out there! So...

To enter for an ARC of An Artificial Night, suggest a quote or quotes that would make a good title for a Toby story. Extra credit if they're quotes not everyone would know (for example, going with An Artificial Night from Romeo and Juliet, rather than something more familiar). Please include the surrounding text in your entry, as well as identifying the scene/sonnet/poem the quote comes from. Entries must be between three and five words.

Example:

Late Eclipses.

"These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend
No good to us: though the wisdom of nature can
Reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself
Scourged by the sequent effects: love cools,
Friendship falls off, brothers divide: in
Cities, mutinies; in countries, discord; in
Palaces, treason; and the bond cracked 'twixt son
And father..." —King Lear.

I'll select the winner through random drawing on Tuesday, June 29th. By entering, you grant permission for me to use your title if I think it's awesome, since Shakespeare is public domain and also, well, I might have issues round about book eleven, when everything has been suggested already.

Game on!

Comments

[priscellie.livejournal.com]

What an awesome contest idea! Props to valdary. I look forward to brushing up on my Shakespeare...

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I'm jazzed.

[angel-vixen.livejournal.com]

The one that immediately came to mind was "What fools these mortals be," but now my curiosity is piqued -- I'll have to do some more digging.

AngelVixen :-)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

That's more a series tagline than a book title, I think.

[herefox.livejournal.com]

A cheap one, mostly because it would make a good book title. It's also a speech that sticks in my head. Of course me, identifying with tricksters? NEVER ;-)

If We Shadows</>

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Ah, sweet Midsummer.

[sheistheweather]

This quote, from Act 2, Scene 1 of As You Like It (speaker is Duke Senior):

"Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing."
(II.i.1-17)

Suggested titles include:
A Precious Jewel
From Public Haunt
Tongues in Trees
Sermons in Stones

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Nice!

[ceitfianna]

I love this idea and have pulled out my complete works. The first suggestion is my favorite.

The ever-running year
Sleeps in Elysium
With profitable labor
vantage of a king

Sweats in the eye of Phoebus, and all
Sleeps in Elysium; next day after dawn,
Doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse,
And so follows the ever-running year
With profitable labor to his grave:
And, but for ceremony, such a wretch,
Winding up days with toil, and nights with sleep,
Had the forehand and vantage of a king.
Henry V IV.i lines 274-280

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[lyssabard.livejournal.com]

Seas Incarnadine

Macbeth:
Whence is that knocking?
How is't with me, when every noise appalls me?
What hands are here? Hah! They pluck out mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
Macbeth Act 2, scene 2, 54–60

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Ooooo.

[fatherofdragons.livejournal.com]

Borrow'd Majesty

From King John, act 1, scene 1:

Enter KING JOHN, QUEEN ELINOR, PEMBROKE, ESSEX, SALISBURY, and others, with CHATILLON

KING JOHN
Now, say, Chatillon, what would France with us?

CHATILLON
Thus, after greeting, speaks the King of France
In my behavior to the majesty,
The borrow'd majesty, of England here.

QUEEN ELINOR
A strange beginning: 'borrow'd majesty!'

[fatherofdragons.livejournal.com]

Oops, it's supposed to be three to five words (I flunk reading comprehension). OK:

The Borrow'd Majesty

[aliciaaudrey.livejournal.com]

There are a few sonnets I considered but these are the ones I like best, each of which seems to me to have two useful phrases.

1. To Whom in Vassalage -or- Whatsoever Star That Guides

Sonnet XXVI

Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage
Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit,
To thee I send this written embassage,
To witness duty, not to show my wit:
Duty so great, which wit so poor as mine
May make seem bare, in wanting words to show it,
But that I hope some good conceit of thine
In thy soul's thought, all naked, will bestow it;
Till whatsoever star that guides my moving
Points on me graciously with fair aspect
And puts apparel on my tatter'd loving,
To show me worthy of thy sweet respect:
Then may I dare to boast how I do love thee;
Till then not show my head where thou mayst prove me.

2. Whose Blessed Key -or- Feasts So Solemn

Sonnet LII

So am I as the rich, whose blessed key
Can bring him to his sweet up-locked treasure,
The which he will not every hour survey,
For blunting the fine point of seldom pleasure.
Therefore are feasts so solemn and so rare,
Since, seldom coming, in the long year set,
Like stones of worth they thinly placed are,
Or captain jewels in the carcanet.
So is the time that keeps you as my chest,
Or as the wardrobe which the robe doth hide,
To make some special instant special blest,
By new unfolding his imprison'd pride.
Blessed are you, whose worthiness gives scope,
Being had, to triumph, being lack'd, to hope.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Lovely.

[saladofdoom.livejournal.com]

Cry Shame

From 'The tragedy of Othello'
Emilia: ( in response to Iago 'Come, Hold your peace.')
'Twill out, 'twill out. I peace?
No, I will speak as liberal as the North;
Let heaven, men and devils, let them all,
All, all cry shame against me, yet I'll speak

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Good!

Two from the Winter's Tale

[spaced.livejournal.com]

Best for Winter

"A sad tale's best for winter: I have one
Of sprites and goblins" - Act II, Scene 1

Gallows and Knock or several other phrases from

"My father named me Autolycus; who
being, as I am, littered under Mercury, was likewise
a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles. With die and
drab I purchased this caparison, and my revenue is
the silly cheat. Gallows and knock are too powerful
on the highway: beating and hanging are terrors to
me: for the life to come, I sleep out the thought
of it." Act IV, Scene 3

Re: Two from the Winter's Tale

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

The Winter's Tale rules. It's the only play with two books named for it.

[theironchocho.livejournal.com]

Awesome contest idea!

From The Winter's Tale, Act V, Scene III:

PAULINA

Music, awake her; strike!

Music

'Tis time; descend; be stone no more; approach;
Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come,
I'll fill your grave up: stir, nay, come away,
Bequeath to death your numbness, for from him
Dear life redeems you. You perceive she stirs:

HERMIONE comes down

Start not; her actions shall be holy as
You hear my spell is lawful: do not shun her
Until you see her die again; for then
You kill her double. Nay, present your hand:
When she was young you woo'd her; now in age
Is she become the suitor?

Suggested titles:
Bequeath to Death
Dear Life Redeems
Kill Her Double
Look Upon With Marvel
Stone No More

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Nice!

[inkedhistorian.livejournal.com]

Night Tripping

KING HENRY IV, PART 1

“Of my young Harry, O that it could be proved
That some night-tripping fairy had exchanged
In cradle-clothes our children they lay”


The Midnight Keeper

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR

“There is an old tale that goes Herne the Hunter,
Sometimes a keeper here in Windsor forest,
Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight,
Walk round about an oak, with great ragg’d horns;”

A Braver Grave

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

“I’ll prove the prettier fellow of the two,
And wear my dagger with the braver grace.”

[blythe025.livejournal.com]

LOVE A Braver Grave as a potential title. That one's very cool.

[blythe025.livejournal.com]

The Mazed World

"An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds
Is, as in mockery, set: the spring, the summer,
The childing autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries, and the mazed world,
By their increase, now knows not which is which:
And this same progeny of evils comes
From our debate, from our dissension;
We are their parents and original."
-- Titania, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Though this passage also made me think of The Mockery of Spring as a potential title (which I like better), but since it wasn't an exact phrase, I didn't think it would count.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I like that.

[pendle1511.livejournal.com]

Standing Water

MALVOLIO
Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for
a boy; as a squash is before 'tis a peascod, or a
cooling when 'tis almost an apple: 'tis with him
in standing water, between boy and man. He is very
well-favoured and he speaks very shrewishly; one
would think his mother's milk were scarce out of him.

Or,

A False Conclusion

SIR TOBY BELCH
A false conclusion: I hate it as an unfilled can.
To be up after midnight and to go to bed then, is
early: so that to go to bed after midnight is to go
to bed betimes. Does not our life consist of the
four elements?

SIR ANDREW
Faith, so they say; but I think it rather consists
of eating and drinking.

Both quotes appearing in Twelfth Night.

Pendle

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Nice!

[winetraveldance.livejournal.com]

Civil Hands Unclean

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

Prologue, Romeo and Juliet

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Lovely.

[valkyrwench.livejournal.com]

Mischance of the Hours

"None that I love more than myself. You are a councillor; if you can command these elements to silence and work the peace of the presence, we will not hand a rope more - use your authority. If you cannot, give thanks you have lived so long, and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the hours, if it so hap."

The Tempest - Act One, Scene One

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's nice.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Very cool.

[valkyrwench.livejournal.com]

Seek for Grace

"Ay, that I will; and I'll be wise hereafter,
And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass
Was I to take this drunkard for a god,
And worship this dull fool!"

The Tempest, Act Five, Scene One

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Ooooooooooooo.

[knitmeapony.livejournal.com]

From my favorite obscure play, Coreolanus:

The Vigilant Eye, The Counsellor Heart, or The Tongue Our Trumpeter

First Citizen: Your belly's answer? What!
The kingly-crowned head, the vigilant eye,
The counsellor heart, the arm our soldier,
Our steed the leg, the tongue our trumpeter.
With other muniments and petty helps
In this our fabric, if that they--


A World Elsewhere

Coriolanus: You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air, I banish you;
And here remain with your uncertainty!
Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts!
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders; till at length
Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels,
Making not reservation of yourselves,
Still your own foes, deliver you as most
Abated captives to some nation
That won you without blows! Despising,
For you, the city, thus I turn my back:
There is a world elsewhere.

A Noble Memory

Aufidius: My rage is gone;
And I am struck with sorrow. Take him up.
Help, three o' the chiefest soldiers; I'll be one.
Beat thou the drum, that it speak mournfully:
Trail your steel pikes. Though in this city he
Hath widow'd and unchilded many a one,
Which to this hour bewail the injury,
Yet he shall have a noble memory. Assist.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Lovely.

Looks like I'm not the only one who likes "Twelfth night"

[maverick-weirdo.livejournal.com]

twelfth night act 2 scene 5

The letter read by Malvolio

'If this fall into thy hand, revolve. In my stars I
am above thee; but be not afraid of greatness: some
are born great, some achieve greatness, and some
have greatness thrust upon 'em. Thy Fates open
their hands; let thy blood and spirit embrace them;
and, to inure thyself to what thou art like to be,
cast thy humble slough and appear fresh. Be
opposite with a kinsman, surly with servants; let
thy tongue tang arguments of state; put thyself into
the trick of singularity: she thus advises thee
that sighs for thee. Remember who commended thy
yellow stockings, and wished to see thee ever
cross-gartered: I say, remember. Go to, thou art
made, if thou desirest to be so; if not, let me see
thee a steward still, the fellow of servants, and
not worthy to touch Fortune's fingers. Farewell.
She that would alter services with thee,
THE FORTUNATE-UNHAPPY.'

Possible Titles:
Fates Open their Hands
Blood and Spirit
The Trick of Singularity
To Touch Fortune's Fingers
The Fortunate-Unhappy

Re: Looks like I'm not the only one who likes "Twelfth night"

[amazon-syren.livejournal.com]

Oo! "Blood and Spirit"! Pick that one! :-D

My Three Favourites

[amazon-syren.livejournal.com]

A Walking Shadow

Suitably threatening, and I think it would fit a number of different fae folk as well.

Macbeth:
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
(Macbeth Act V, scene 5)


Rose of the Fair

A reference to Toby, because of all the rose roads that the Luidag (sp) could smell on her.

Ophelia:
O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword,
Th' expectation and rose of the fair state,
The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
Th' observ'd of all observers, quite, quite down!
(Hamlet, Act III, scene 1)


Gnarled Oak

Oh, come on! Who could pass this one up?

Isabella:
Merciful heaven,
Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
Splits the unwedgeable and gnarled oak
Than the soft myrtle; but man, proud man,
Dressed in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most assured
His glassy essence--like an angry ape
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As makes the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.
(Measure For Measure Act II, scene 2)

Re: My Three Favourites

[blythe025.livejournal.com]

I like A Walking Shadow, too. :)

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

A Man of Wax

NURSE: A man, young lady! Lady, such a man as all the world--why he's a man of wax! (Romeo & Juliet Act I, sc. iii)

A Dial's Point OR, alternatively, A Strange Brooch

Richard: For now hath time made me his numbering clock:
My thoughts are minutes, and with sighs they jar
Their watches onto mine eyes, the outward watch
Whereto my finger, like a dial's point
Is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears.
Now sir, the sound that tells what hour it is
Are clamorous groans, that strike upon my heart
Which is the bell: so sighs and tears and groans
Show minutes, times and hours; but my time
Runs posting on in Bolingbroke's proud joy,
While I stand fooling here, his Jack o' the clock.
This music mads me: let it sound no more;
For though it have holp madmen to their wits,
In me it seems it will make men mad.
Yet blessing on his heart that gives it me!
For 'tis a sign of love, and love to Richard
Is a strange brooch in this all-hating world.
(Richard II, Act V, sc. i)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely. :)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Nice!

February Face

[lostwind.livejournal.com]

Title: February Face

Much Ado About Nothing, Act V, Scene IV:
DON PEDRO: Good morrow, Benedick. Why, what's the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?

Re: February Face

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like that.

[slweippert.livejournal.com]

ill met by moonlight


PUCK. But room, fairy, here comes Oberon.

FAIRY. And here my mistress. Would that he were gone!

Enter OBERON at one door, with his TRAIN, and TITANIA, at another, with hers

OBERON. Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania. 60

TITANIA. What, jealous Oberon! Fairies, skip hence;
I have forsworn his bed and company.

OBERON. Tarry, rash wanton; am not I thy lord?

"A Midsummer's Night's Dream"
Act II Scene 1

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Heeee.