Sally Potter encorporated some choice excerpts of English poetry into her screenplay.


Eliza is the Fairest Queen ~ Edward Johnson 1572-1601

Eliza is the fairest Queen
That ever trod upon the green.
Eliza's eyes are blessed stars,
Inducing peace, subduing wars.
O blessed be each day and hour
Where sweet Eliza builds her bower.

Eliza's hand is crystal bright,
Her words are balm, her looks are light.
Eliza's breast is that fair hill,
Where virtue dwells, and sacred skill.
O blessed be each day and hour
Where sweet Eliza builds her bower.



from The Faerie Queene ~ Edmund Spenser 1522-1599

Ah, see the Virgin Rose, how sweetly she doth first peep forth with bashful modesty,
That fairer seems, the less ye see her may...
Lo see soon after, how more bold and free, her bared bosom she doth broad display...
Lo see soon after how she fades, and falls away...


from Othello ~ William Shakespeare 1564-1616

Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak
Of one who loved not wisely but too well;
Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought,
Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe...
I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this,
Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.


Sonnet XXIX ~ William Shakespeare 1564-1616

When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.


"Death of a Lover" ~ ("Orlando")

His heart was broken-- cleft in two--
Abandoned! Lost! What could he do?
An end to this! he wretched cried,
She said she loved me, but she lied!
And so-- betrayed-- he fell and died!


~ ("Nick Greene")

Try as he might, this gracious noble Lord
Who lifts his pen and thinks he then can write
Cannot-- for who can pen when he is bored?
The mind of leisure only can be trite.

This pretty knight who feebly lifts his sword
To make a witless thrust against his doom
Is foiled by what his noble birth affords--
Dogs, dogs, more dogs, and far too many rooms.

So fortune smiles on those who own the land
And frowns at trivia from the dabbler's hand.



from "Women" ("Surat al-Nisa") ~ Qur'àn 4.1

Man should reverence
His guardian Lord
Who created him
From a single being
And created, of like nature
His mate, and from those two
Scattered like seeds,
Countless men and women.


Where'er you walk ~ George Fredric Handel 1685-1759

Where'er you walk, cool gales shall fan the glade;
Trees, where you sit, shall crowd into a shade.
Where'er you tread, the blushing flowers shall rise,
And all things flourish where'er you turn your eyes.



The Indian Serenade ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792-1822

I arise from dreams of thee
In the first sweet sleep of night,
When the winds are breathing low,
And the stars are shining bright
I arise from dreams of thee,
And a spirit in my feet
Hath led me--who knows how?
To thy chamber window, Sweet!

The wandering airs they faint
On the dark, the silent stream--
The champak odors fail
Like sweet thoughts in a dream;
The nightingale's complaint,
It dies upon her heart;
As I must on thine,
Oh, beloved as thou art!

O lift me from the grass!
I die! I faint! I fail!
Let thy love in kisses rain
On my lips and eyelids pale.
My cheek is cold and white, alas!
My heart beats loud and fast;--
Oh! press it to thine own again,
Where it will break at last.


Many thanks to Julia for her Shelley identification.



Basis / Articles / Photographs / Reviews / Dramatis Personae / Actors / Merchandise