Quote #50003
Thrice toss these oaken ashes in the air,
Thrice sit thou mute in this enchanted chair;
Then thrice three times tie up this true love’s knot,
And murmur soft: “She will, or she will not.”
Thrice sit thou mute in this enchanted chair;
Then thrice three times tie up this true love’s knot,
And murmur soft: “She will, or she will not.”
Thomas Campion
About This Quote
This quote needs no introduction—at least for now. We're working on adding more context soon.
Interpretation
The speaker gives a set of quasi-magical instructions for divining or securing a lover’s consent. The repeated “thrice” and the climactic “thrice three times” invoke ritual numerology (3 and 9 as potent, traditional charm-numbers), while the “oaken ashes” and “enchanted chair” lend a folkloric, ceremonial atmosphere. The final whispered refrain—“She will, or she will not”—captures the tension between desire and uncertainty: elaborate rites promise control, yet the outcome remains binary and ultimately beyond the speaker’s power. The passage plays with the period’s fascination with love-charms and courtship superstition, balancing earnest longing with a knowing, almost playful theatricality.
