Reward and punishment
A jealous Othello, an innocent Desdemona,
And a villain Iago, all played their parts
As per the scripts and directions, on the stage.
No one was hailed; No one was jailed.
The world is the stage on which we take parts
As Othellos, Desdimonas and Iagos.
Reward and punishment by God is a myth.
28.12.2000, Pmdi
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
Happiness in change of stages
I went on foot to far away school.
Then I rode on a bicycle with a pride.
Later two-wheeler took me to pedestal.
Now a car. In each stage I was happy.
In each stage the intensity was same.
Every up stage is a happy stage
till it is replaced by the next stage.
31.12.2000, Pmdi
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Othello: My life upon her faith! — Honest Iago,
My Desdemona must I leave to thee.
I prithee, let thy wife attend on her,
And bring them after in the best advantage.
line from Othello, Act I, Scene 3 by William Shakespeare (1603)
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
Vote! | Copy!
I was never a villain on the stage. I always played strong, sympathetic types. My first stage role with a speaking part, believe it or not, was as a priest. It wasn't until I began acting in films that the producers and directors saw me primarily as a bizarre villain.
quote by Conrad Veidt
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
A Colloquial Reply: To Any Newsboy
If you lay for Iago at the stage door with a brick
You have missed the moral of the play.
He will have a midnight supper with Othello and his wife.
They will chirp together and be gay.
But the things Iago stands for must go down into the dust:
Lying and suspicion and conspiracy and lust.
And I cannot hate the Kaiser (I hope you understand.)
Yet I chase the thing he stands for with a brickbat in my hand.
poem by Vachel Lindsay
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
It Only Takes One To Do An 'Iago
Undermining has always been a trait,
Of those envious of others' deeds.
Conflicts have initiated over images raised.
Only to be replaced,
By mediocre initiatives.
And one with a taste to victimize with venom
It only takes one to do an 'Iago'.
You know
Othello's foe?
That legendary Moor,
In the military service of Venice.
Married to Desdemona,
And
The subject and tragic figure of Shakespeare's play.
That's all it takes!
An Iago who fakes a loyalty.
But has traitor on the mind,
And equipped to do it with lips.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
I've played villains on stage - you know, the Iagos and so on - but I think of myself as a funny person. I mostly did comedies before I did TV work.
quote by Michael Emerson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
I've played villains on stage — you know, the Iagos and so on — but I think of myself as a funny person. I mostly did comedies before I did TV work.
quote by Michael Emerson
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
Vote! | Copy!
0312 Even the Best may stumble
Let’s suppose
you’ve bought or blagged
an invite to a buzzy West End party
after the football game, where
you’ll ‘mingle with the stars’
and when you get there, all glammed up
and wearing your Saturday best,
you glimpse, beyond a velvet, guarded rope,
the ‘stars’ you just won’t mingle with –
those ‘celebs’ with not too much to do
except to party and be photographed,
‘stars’ who’re hoping thus to burn the brighter
in the starry glitter of their combined glow…
while the hungry media, mingling in symbiosis,
poised to photograph,
smooze and click to elevate
these passing comets into myth
* * *
But every now and then
onto the stage of public wild acclaim
strolls the myth itself, the archetypal
Aristotelian hero –
not quite the Job or Oedipus whom
the gods single out for test, with all their force;
but the classic hero of the public stage
with that one fatal flaw, and
without the Stoic wisdom that
all life’s a lesson to be learned, who
finally puts a magic foot wrong; and then
fate gives the golden best the final boot…
Shakespeare missed out, so it seems, on sport,
apart from the Royal tennis court,
otherwise he might have seen
Othello, as a footballer,
Desdemona his other half, his god-given, wonder-working skill;
Iago the tempter whispering with sex and booze around
the light and lustre of our hero’s life he drove himself to kill
so killed his very self
‘To wilful men
the injuries that they themselves procure
must be their schoolmasters’…
Shakespeare would have recognised him
for what he was: earth-striding idol, feet of golden clay.
Yet those who knew him, as Cordelia did King Lear,
loved him
beyond all tragedy. Yes, he was more than that -
we have the footage of that golden foot.
poem by Michael Shepherd
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Audition
Life, a Play
In three parts, now
Is two parts done.
In this,
The final interval
We rearrange our scores,
The Orchestra, still poised
Will sit
To practice discords
At the pit.
Then like rent cloth
The curtains start,
The stage is lit;
And I would venture
At my part...
Were I not so
Afraid of it.
24 January 1984
poem by David Lewis Paget
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Concerning Emperors
I. GOD SEND THE REGICIDE
Would that the lying rulers of the world
Were brought to block for tyrannies abhorred.
Would that the sword of Cromwell and the Lord,
The sword of Joshua and Gideon,
Hewed hip and thigh the hosts of Midian.
God send that ironside ere tomorrow's sun;
Let Gabriel and Michael with him ride.
God send the Regicide.
II. A COLLOQUIAL REPLY: TO ANY NEWSBOY
If you lay for Iago at the stage door with a brick
You have missed the moral of the play.
He will have a midnight supper with Othello and his wife.
They will chirp together and be gay.
But the things Iago stands for must go down into the dust:
Lying and suspicion and conspiracy and lust.
And I cannot hate the Kaiser (I hope you understand.)
Yet I chase the thing he stands for with a brickbat in my hand.
poem by Vachel Lindsay
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
the Self
the self is a mountain
you can go exploring
some parts are not reachable
and some parts so riveting
you just wish to sing them songs
some parts are caves you can shout
and hear your own echoes
some parts are a make belief
haunted house you can frighten yourself with
some parts are chambers of
mysteries you can get lost on your own
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Roderigo: Tush! never tell me; I take it much unkindly that thou, Iago, who hast had my purse as if the strings were thine, shouldst know of this.
Iago: 'Sblood, but you will not hear me: if ever I did dream of such a matter, abbhor me.
line from Othello, Act I, Scene 1 by William Shakespeare (1603)
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
Vote! | Copy! | In Spanish | In Romanian
Get Off The Stage
Oh, you silly old man
You silly old man
Youre making a fool of yourself
So get off the stage
You silly old man
In your misguided trousers
With your mascara and your fender guitar
And you think you can arouse us ?
But the song that you just sang
It sounds exactly like the last one
And the next one
I bet you it will sound
Like this one
Downstage, and offstage
Dont you feel all run in ?
And do you wonder when they will take it away ?
This is your final fling
But then applause ran high
But for the patience of the ones behind you
As a verse drags on like a month drags on
Its very short, but it seems very long
And the song that you just sang
It sounds exactly like the last one
And the next one
I bet you it will sound
Like this one
So, get off the stage
Oh, get off the stage
And when we get down off of the stage
Please stay off the stage - all day !
Get off the stage
Oh, get off the stage
And when weve had our money back
Then Id like your back in plaster
Oh, I know that you say
How age has no meaning
Oh, but here is your audience now
And theyre screaming :
Get off the stage
Oh, get off the stage
Because Ive given you enough of my time
And the money that wasnt even mine
Have you seen yourself recently ?
Oh, get off the stage
Oh, get off the stage
For whom, oh ...
For whom, oh ...
For whom, oh ...
For whom, oh ...
Get off the stage
Get off the stage
Get off the stage
For whom the bell tolls
song performed by by Morrissey
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Names Upon the Stage
Silently covered,
Names I never heard
Floors I never stood,
The holocaust to feel them die,
Lonely
When they cry.
Imagine ancient quilts,
And scripts upon a page.
A silver meadows shadow,
The names upon the stage.
Good to see remembered,
Tears and Life, the same.
Just to many truths,
For such an insane game.
Imagine all the people,
And scripts upon a page.
The blank parade of faces,
And names upon the stage.
poem by Sandra Osborne
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Letter to God
dear god
how little i feel
about myself
despite your claim
that i am the top
of your creation
a little virus
would kill me off
i feel mysellf
a plaything
your plaything
a toy, a puppet
and the world your stage
with my role written
where i should play out my part
talk about freewill?
is there one?
one plus one equals two
an empty stomach
does not have free will
to choose?
a woman with
near dead child at her hands
knows free will is spoken
only by the gods
in their written scripts
to enliven their puppets
to act out
i know too after all
the theatrical parts
like a buffalo led by the noose
i will be torn out
of existence
as you plan your next play
like the sun
that comes after heavy rain
the land cleaned of its dirt,
where fresh breeze blows
i am but then
would be lost
in existence
consciouness
torn to shreds
to get your next
theatre going
not a trace of mine
would be left
on this stage
where i had acted out my part
with flesh, blood and soul
free will
no freewill and all
god, you the puppeteers
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Desdemona: Heaven truly doth know it.
Othello: Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell.
line from Othello, Act IV, Scene 2 by William Shakespeare (1603)
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
Vote! | Copy! | In Romanian
Franks 2000 Tv
Risin above the city, blocking out the noonday sun
It dwarfs the mighty redwoods and it towers over everyone
I still remember when that delivery truck came down our block
What a lucky guy, I hear he got the last one in stock
And the neighbors are just green
They say, thats the biggest screen weve ever seen!
Its franks 2000 tv (franks 2000 tv)
Everbody come and see(franks 2000 tv)
Franks 2000 tv (franks 2000 tv)
Thats franks remote control, you can look, but dont touch it, please
cause franks the one in charge and he decides what everybody sees
The pictures crystal clear and everything is magnified
Robert deniros mole has got to be ten feet wide
Everybody in the town
Can hear those 90,000 watts of dolby sound
And Im mighty proud to say
Now I can watch the simpsons from thirty blocks away
On franks 2000 tv (franks 2000 tv)
Everybody come and see (franks 2000 tv)
Franks 2000 tv (franks 2000 tv)
Everybody come and see (franks 2000 tv)
Im gonna get one of my own real soon
Its like having a drive-in movie in your own living room
Whoa, hey now... hey now na na na now
Hey now... hey now na na now
Franks 2000 tv (franks 2000 tv)
Everybody come and see (franks 2000 tv)
Franks 2000 tv (franks 2000 tv)
Got a two year warranty on parts and labor
Franks 2000 tv (franks 2000 tv)
Franks 2000 tv
song performed by by Weird Al Yankovic
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
If life indeed is a stage, then how can we act our parts if we can't read our script
quote by Vu Quyen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy! | In Romanian
The unseen from the seen
Dear, O my dear forever,
I have seen you a portion,
The rest under clouds.
Your face, hair, nape
And limbs from elbows,
And no more, were visible.
The rest beneath the saree
Is safely kept unseen.
It is enough to my faculty.
From the parts I have seen,
I perceive the parts unseen.
I could visualize,
I could surmise,
I could X-ray.
I could fantasize
And I could imagine
What were there in store,
And what shape they were:
The lean breast, the thin arms,
The slender legs and the narrow groin.
I felt about it as if I was drunk.
Yours unseen are frenzy
To me rather than to him
Who is your custodian.
Your contour is just like curves
In a cartoon, speaking volumes.
I owe much to your company.
It keeps me in harmony.
There is no harm to any.
17.12.2000, Pmdi
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Country Is Like A Body
When one part sick
All parts look unhealthy
When one part missing
All parts get the impact
When one part is weak
Do other parts only blame and not help to fix it?
When one part is failed
Do other parts only let it fall and not support it?
Even it is often forgotten
It doesn't mean it is not important
Even it is always underestimated
It doesn't mean it could completely be ignored
One part may be incapable
But it doesn't mean all parts can do nothing
One part may be invalid
But it doesn't mean all parts should also give up the spirit
In some incredible moment they are working together
In some unseen place they don't stop to struggle
It may be hard but always raises up the hope
It may be small change but always look forward
poem by Maria Sudibyo
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!