...fast in fires, Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burnt and purged away: but that I am forbid To tell the secrets of my prison-house,...hair to stand an end, Like quills upon the fretful porpentine. But this eternal blazon must not be To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O list! If...

...awhile, and let us once again assail your ears, That are so fortified against our stay. [Hamlet I i 30] / could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow...young blood, Make thy two eyes, like stars, start jrom their spheres, Thy knotted locks to part, And each particular hair to stand on end Like quills...

...to tell Hamlet would, in Gulliver's words, make his flesh creep with a horror he could not express: I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow...combined locks to part And each particular hair to stand on end Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.39 Similarly relevant, also, is the fact that Gulliver,...

..."secrets" (1.5.14). He describes not the secrets, therefore, but the effect they would have if disclosed: I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow...hair to stand an end Like quills upon the fretful porpentine. (1.5.15-20) As the sight of the Medusa turned spectators to stone, the mere mention of...

...she whispered with great intensity: "... But that I am forbid To tell the secrets of my prison house, I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow...combined locks to part, And each particular hair to stand on end, Like quills upon the fretful porcupine." The officer nodded. He had no idea what it meant or...

...she whispered with great intensity: "... But that I am forbid To tell the secrets of my prison house, I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow...combined locks to part, And each particular hair to stand on end, Like quills upon the fretful porcupine." The officer nodded. He had no idea what it meant or...

...breath in dread to tell of this prison-house. The"lightest word" of this scorching torment, we recall, Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,...combined locks to part And each particular hair to stand on end Like quills upon the fearful porpentine. The frightful vision of a realm of torment was useful...

...(2.2.554-559) and the Ghost's description of the effect that his tale of torment would have on Hamlet: I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow...two eyes like stars start from their spheres, Thy knotty and combined locks to part, And each particular hair to stand on end Like quills upon the fretful...

...torture of the body would extend even to one who hears about "the secrets of my prison-house" (1.5.14): I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow...two eyes like stars start from their spheres. Thy knotty and combined locks to part. And each particular hair to stand on end Like quills upon the fretful...

...ofNightwood, YCAL. 17. Hamlet, Pelican edition, ed. Willard Farnham (New York: Penguin, 1970), 1.5.15-22: I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow...combined locks to part, And each particular hair to stand on end Like quills upon the fretful porpentine. But this eternal blazon must not be To ears of flesh...