Similarly impressed by Regan’s speech, Lear gives her a third of his kingdom that is equal in size and beauty to the third which he gave to Goneril.

It is also possible that Lear had never planned on dividing his land according to a competition, having already predetermined how to divide the kingdom, and that this is nothing more than a publicity stunt to his ego. If it truly mattered in dividing the kingdom how much his daughter said they loved him, wouldn’t Shakespeare have had him divide the kingdom AFTER all three daughters have finished their speeches?

Validity means “worth.”

Goneril’s husband, the Duke of Albany.

Albany is an ancient word for The North of Britain, i.e. Scotland.

Refers to “Musica universalis” or the music of the spheres. This music was thought to be inaudible to mortal beings.

Stars traditionally also represent fate— this “stir and bustle” implies that Gatsby is trying to change the determined course of things by associating with this girl in a different social class. Star diction is used frequently in Romeo and Juliet.

Gloucester was not married to Edmund’s mother, making Edmund a bastard (illegitimate son). Having an illegitimate son might be embarrassing for some, but Gloucester has admitted it so much that it no longer bothers him at all.

Stephen Orgel of Stanford University writes:

illegitimacy was a commonplace fact of Shakespeare’s England, as it must be of any society without reliable methods of birth control, and though illegitimate children were barred from the line of succession and inheritance of landed estates, no stigma was attached to the fact of bastardy itself.

Introduction to King Lear

Even though the jar was round, man-made with perfect proportions not found in nature, it depends on nature to have a place to rest. No matter what man imposes on nature, he depends on it.

The internal rhyme underscores the jar’s synthetic nature— contrast the coherence and simplicity of these monosyllabic words with the description of nature as “slovenly wilderness.”

The speaker compares himself to a city that has been conquered by a foreign invader — Satan. He wants to let God in as liberator, but he has thus far been unsuccessful. This is a typical, imaginative Donne-style metaphysical conceit.

It was ‘usurped’, so presumably it used to belong to God, was taken, and now the speaker asks God to take it back.

Notice the internal rhyme of ‘you’ and ‘due’; creating unity within a poem full of disparate rhythms and ideas.

The ‘Oh’ seems to mark a shift to a more personal tone — the speaker realizes his requests are unrealistic. It can be interpreted as a little gasp of emotion.

Daisy’s affectations – she barely knows Nick.

As Daisy stated in Chapter 1:

‘We don’t know each other very well, Nick,’ she said suddenly. ‘Even if we are cousins. You didn’t come to my wedding.’
‘I wasn’t back from the war.’
‘That’s true.’

It also sets a marked contrast with her attitude later in the chapter during the awkward meeting with Gatsby and later still in the chapter when Jay and Daisy have only eyes for each other.

Gatsby inevitably overdoes it with the flowers. You can imagine Nick arriving with a bouquet of flowers and being met with this.

Gatsby’s flowers mimic his extravagant mansion— he does everything gaudily in an attempt to impress Daisy.