M
mei
Guest
Hi,
Could anyone tell me what the phrase 'accidents by flood and field" means? Thanks a lot.
Mei
Could anyone tell me what the phrase 'accidents by flood and field" means? Thanks a lot.
Mei
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- Nov 13, 2002
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- British English
- Home Country
- UK
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- Japan
It comes from Shakespeare:
Of moving accidents by flood and field.
- Othello the Moor of Venice (Othello at I, iii)
From the text, I think it means 'accidents that occured in fields or with floods'.
Her father loved me; oft invited me;
Still question’d me the story of my life,
From year to year, the battles, sieges, fortunes,
That I have passed.
I ran it through, even from my boyish days,
To the very moment that he bade me tell it:
Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents by flood and field,
Of hair-breadth ’scapes i’ the imminent deadly breach,
Of being taken by the insolent foe
And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence
And portance in my travels’ history;
Wherein of antres vast and deserts idle,
Rough quarries, rocks and hills whose heads touch heaven,
It was my hint to speak,—such was the process;
And of the Cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders. This to hear 2
Would Desdemona seriously incline.
Of moving accidents by flood and field.
- Othello the Moor of Venice (Othello at I, iii)
From the text, I think it means 'accidents that occured in fields or with floods'.
Her father loved me; oft invited me;
Still question’d me the story of my life,
From year to year, the battles, sieges, fortunes,
That I have passed.
I ran it through, even from my boyish days,
To the very moment that he bade me tell it:
Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents by flood and field,
Of hair-breadth ’scapes i’ the imminent deadly breach,
Of being taken by the insolent foe
And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence
And portance in my travels’ history;
Wherein of antres vast and deserts idle,
Rough quarries, rocks and hills whose heads touch heaven,
It was my hint to speak,—such was the process;
And of the Cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders. This to hear 2
Would Desdemona seriously incline.
RonBee
Moderator
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- Feb 9, 2003
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- United States
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- United States
Sometimes, the context needed to understand an unfamiliar phrase is considerable indeed. :!:
Shakespeare wrote such poetry as stands up down throught the ages. It moves the soul.
8)
Shakespeare wrote such poetry as stands up down throught the ages. It moves the soul.
8)
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