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Some of the action of Shakespeare’s play
‘King Lear’ takes place around Dover. The play was first
performed at court on 26 December 1606, and was probably
written in late 1605 or early 1606.
On 4 October 1605 the ‘King’s Men’, Shakespeare’s theatre
company, visited Dover and it is quite likely that Shakespeare
himself was with them. Her certainly must have visited
Dover at sometime as he uses one of its landmarks as
the setting for one scene.
In Act 4, Scene 1 the blinded Earl of Gloucester asks
Edgar to lead him to Dover:
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William Shakespeare.
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GLOUCESTER
Dost thou know Dover?
EDGAR
Ay, master
GLOUCESTER
There is a cliff whose
high and bending head
Looks fearfully in the confined deep
Bring me to the very brim of it,
And I’ll repair the misery thou dost bear
With something rich about me: from that place
I shall no leading need.
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That cliff, to the west of Dover, is
now called Shakespeare
Cliff in honour of its mention by the Bard. In Act
4, Scene 6 Shakespeare wrote of the view as seen from
the green cliff top:
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EDGAR
Come on, sir; here's the place: stand still. How fearful
And dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes so low!
The crows and choughs that wing the midway air
Show scarce so gross as beetles: half way down
Hangs one that gathers samphire,
dreadful trade!
Methinks he seems no bigger than his head:
The fishermen, that walk upon the beach,
Appear like mice; and yond tall anchoring bark,
Diminished to her cock; her cock, a buoy
Almost too small for sight: the murmuring surge,
That on the unnumbered idle pebbles chafes,
Cannot be heard so high. I'll look no more;
Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight
Topple down headlong.
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19th Century engraving of Shakespeare Cliff.
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The "Samphire" is a succulent
plant that was once made into tasty pickle but seldom
found today.
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