Poem: Players

Centos: Cento is the Latin word for a patchwork cloak, and it is applied to a kind of poetry made up of separate lines taken from different poets. Other names for centos are "mosaics" or "patchwork verses." This has been changed a bit for this poem. Instead of separate lines taken from different poets, lines in this poem all come from separate works by one author: Shakespeare. The location of the line in a particular work is indicated; some numbered lines may vary from edition to edition of the works.

PLAYERS

All the world's a stage
And all the men and women merely players.      As You Like It, II, vii, 140
Let them be well used, for they are the abstract
and brief chronicles of the time.                                         Hamlet, II, ii, 544

Adam was a gardener,                  King Henry VI, The Second Part, IV, ii, 141
The devil
can cite Scripture for his purpose;          The Merchant of Venice, I, iii, 100
Opinion's but a fool that makes us
scan
The outward habit by the inward man.                              Pericles, II, ii, 55

Men that hazard all
do it in hope of fair advantages,                The Merchant of Venice, II, vii, 18
And thereby hangs a tale:                                          As You Like It, II, vii, 28

Every thing that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment;                                  Sonnet 15, 1
This huge stage presenteth nought but
shows
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment.                Sonnet 15, 3
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which
will not
Speak then to to me --                                                           Macbeth, I, iii, 58
The rest is silence.                                                                Hamlet, V, ii, 369