Diagramming Shakespeare 17

[Frank Antonson]

If music be the food of love, play on,/ Give me surfeit of it; that, surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken and so die. Twelfth Night

Now, that would be a challenge -- even for Kondorosi!

[Kondorosi]

If music be the food of love, play on,/ Give me surfeit of it; that, surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken and so die. Twelfth Night

Now, that would be a challenge -- even for Kondorosi!

You meant 'especially' in place of 'even', did you not?
Let me think (that is not my forte).

[Kondorosi]

If music be the food of love, play on,/ Give me surfeit of it; that, surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken and so die. Twelfth Night

Now, that would be a challenge -- even for Kondorosi!

If music be the food of love, play on that surfeiting the appetite may sicken and so die

1. If music be the food of love, play on

play on --> pv; on = adverb particle

2. The appetite may sicken and so die.

and so = coordinating conjunction

3. (you) give [(to) me] [surfeit of it] = SVOO

4. that = exclamation
5. surfeiting = S(V??)

[Frank Antonson]

""surfeiting" is a participle modifying "appetite" He wants his appetite for love to die by surfeit.
It is a rather complex thought. He can't have the woman that he wants so he wants to (using a different metaphor) drown his sorrow in music.

MORE IMPORTANT! SO NICE TO HAVE YOU BACK!

[Kondorosi]

Thanks Frank!

that, surfeiting, / The appetite

This part is dangling in mid-air for me. Wat does that 'surfeiting' do grammatically and how? Also, punctuation is not similar to that which I learnt from grammar books.

[Frank Antonson]

...the surfeiting appetite...
I agree that the punctuation is unusual, but so is the word order -- the anastophe.

It could also be understood as elliptical for "...by surfeiting..." the appetite might sicken"and die, in which case "by surfeiting" would be an adverbial prepostional phrase (with a gerund as its object) modifying the verbs "sicken" and "die"', answering the question "how?"

This second explanation is probably more acurate. It's just that I like to avoid ellipsis when possible.

[Kondorosi]

I am going to surfeit my appetite when I go back home from my survival trip.

If music be the food of love, play on,/ Give me surfeit of it; that, surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken and so die.

If music be the food of love, play on,/ Give me surfeit of it

This part is crystal clear

that, surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken and so die.

that = the appetite = recapitulatory pronoun

surfeiting = how

[Frank Antonson]

Yes, that is very close to what I would diagram! "So", however, I am quite sure is a (subordinating) conjunction here. Think of it as short for "so that".
It connects the second clause with the first. The second clause is an adverbial clause anwering the question "why?"about "play on".

I like the fact that you gave the diagram without the words. That way more of the fun can be shared by others who are viewing this.

SO NICE TO HAVE YOU BACK!

[Frank Antonson]

Or, rather, answering the question "why?" about "give".

[Kondorosi]

[so = thus] is my reading of the sentence.

I like the fact that you gave the diagram without the words. That way more of the fun can be shared by others who are viewing this.

SO NICE TO HAVE YOU BACK!

So do I. Thanks.