by William Shakespeare
Act III Scene I
Also quoted in the movie Shakespeare in Love.
Context: Valentine is threatened with death if he continues his affair with Sylvia.
"...And why not death rather than living torment?
To die is to be banish'd from myself;
And Silvia is myself: banish'd from her
Is self from self: a deadly banishment!
What light is light, if Silvia be not seen?
What joy is joy, if Silvia be not by?
Unless it be to think that she is by
And feed upon the shadow of perfection.
Except I be by Silvia in the night,
There is no music in the nightingale;
Unless I look on Silvia in the day,
There is no day for me to look upon;
She is my essence, and I leave to be,
If I be not by her fair influence
Foster'd, illumined, cherish'd, kept alive."
A little excessive maybe, but one cannot deny the intensity of feeling and the sheer beauty of Shakespearean English! Sigh!
This is a little paragraph in the above mentioned play, and I thank the movie for bringing it to my attention.
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