Chaucer's Corner
Selected Medieval and Renaissance Poetry Celebrating the Creative Spirit of the Father of English Poetry
Celebrating the Positive
Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile
Hath not old custom made this life more sweet
Than that of painted pomp? Are not these
woods
More free from human peril than the envious
court?
Here feel we not the penalty of Adam,
The season's difference, as the icy fang,
And churlish chiding of winter's wind,
Which when it bites and blows upon my body
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say,
"This is no flattery, these are counsellors
That feelingly persuade me what I am."
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which like the toad, ugly and venemous
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head,
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in running
brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.
As You Like It, Act II, Scene I
William Shakespeare