--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is the question of language…" description: "\"There is the question of language. Although the play [Candid] is not written in strict verse form, there is an underlying beat of rhyming couplets, wit..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/628/mark-ravenhill-28127_beats_there-is-the-question-of-language-althou_1657954.jpg" --- # There is the question of language. Although the play… ![“There is the question of language. Although the play [Candid] is not written in strict verse form, there is an underlying beat of rhyming couplets, with echoes of Pope and the tradition of eighteenth-century philosophical verse.” quote by Mark Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/628/mark-ravenhill-28127_beats_there-is-the-question-of-language-althou_1657954.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/628/mark-ravenhill-28127_beats_there-is-the-question-of-language-althou_1657954.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/628/mark-ravenhill-28127_beats_there-is-the-question-of-language-althou_1657954.jpg) > “There is the question of language. Although the play \[Candid\] is not written in strict verse form, there is an underlying beat of rhyming couplets, with echoes of Pope and the tradition of eighteenth-century philosophical verse.” [Mark Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ravenhill/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote highlights how the play blends modern language with classical poetic structures, echoing 18th‑century verse rhythms. **In simple terms:** It notes the mix of contemporary speech and old‑style rhyme. Key Takeaway Recognize and appreciate hybrid literary forms. Themes literature poetry historical influence form language Mood thoughtful analytical Type critical interpretive When to use this quote - theatrical performance - literary analysis - creative writing workshops Key Concepts rhythmic structure intertextuality genre blending Questions to Reflect On - How does the rhythmic pattern affect comprehension? - What does the blend reveal about modern vs. classic aesthetics? A Different Perspective The hybrid form may alienate audiences expecting pure prose or pure verse. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Candid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/candid/) [Couplets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/couplets/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Philosophical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophical/) [Play](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/play/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pope/) [Rhyming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rhyming/) [Tradition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tradition/) [Verses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/verses/) ## Related quotes > [Their free verse was no form at all, yet it made history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/their-free-verse-was-no-form-at-all-yet-it-made-history/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [A piratical ghost story in thirteen ingenious but potentially disturbing rhyming couplets, originally conceived as a confection both to amuse and to entertain by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/a-piratical-ghost-story-in-thirteen-ingenious-but-potentially/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [For all the years I'd spent talking about pictures, the truth was that I had no idea how to draw or what it felt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-gopnik/for-all-the-years-i-d-spent-talking-about-pictures-the-truth-was-that/) [Adam Gopnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-gopnik/) > [Shakespeare wrote his sonnets within a strict discipline, fourteen lines of iambic pentameter, rhyming in three quatrains and a couplet. Were his sonnets dull?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-ogilvy/shakespeare-wrote-his-sonnets-within-a-strict-discipline-fourteen/) [David Ogilvy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-ogilvy/) > [For the hundredth time tonight, I’m back with Lulu, on Jacques’s barge, the improbably named Viola. She’d just toldme the story of double happiness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gayle-forman/for-the-hundredth-time-tonight-i-m-back-with-lulu-on-jacques-s-barge/) [Gayle Forman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gayle-forman/) > [I came to writing mysteries through poetry and still think that a well-constructed mystery is very much like a well-constructed sonnet. Both are artificial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-maron/i-came-to-writing-mysteries-through-poetry-and-still-think-that-a/) [Margaret Maron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-maron/) > [I like ghosts. I like friends. I like couplets. I like the idea of a mission.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dara-wier/i-like-ghosts-i-like-friends-i-like-couplets-i-like-the-idea-of-a/) [Dara Wier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dara-wier/) > [I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets: "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-murray/i-have-learned-a-deep-respect-for-one-of-goethe-s-couplets-whatever/) [W. H. Murray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-murray/) > [There we were - demented children mincing about in clothes that no one ever wore, speaking as no man ever spoke, swearing love in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/there-we-were-demented-children-mincing-about-in-clothes-that-no-one/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [My dad, a mathematician, raised me to believe that mathematics is beautiful, so math is a part of my imaginative terrain. In my late…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/my-dad-a-mathematician-raised-me-to-believe-that-mathematics-is/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) > [Verse comedy is interesting to me because of the challenge of writing in rhymed couplets, which is not a form that's usually amenable to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-ives/verse-comedy-is-interesting-to-me-because-of-the-challenge-of-writing/) [David Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-ives/) > [Then, at the last and only couplet fraught With some unmeaning thing they call a thought, A needless Alexandrine ends the song, That, like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/then-at-the-last-and-only-couplet-fraught-with-some-unmeaning-thing/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [But there's nothing that gives me more thrill than when I'm writing and a couplet works. I find the right rhyme, or it's just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rosanne-cash/but-there-s-nothing-that-gives-me-more-thrill-than-when-i-m-writing/) [Rosanne Cash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rosanne-cash/) > [The best revenge is the massive success.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-sinatra/the-best-revenge-is-the-massive-success/) [Frank Sinatra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-sinatra/) > [I never even considered writing a career option. I just liked the play of words. I was certainly interested in story, but the stories…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-de-lint/i-never-even-considered-writing-a-career-option-i-just-liked-the-play/) [Charles de Lint](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-de-lint/) ## More by Mark Ravenhill > [Rereading Candide, I was struck by the link between optimism and the optimal, the idea that we have been placed in this optimal world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-ravenhill/rereading-candide-i-was-struck-by-the-link-between-optimism-and-the/) [Mark Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ravenhill/) > [Twenty years ago, when you bumped into someone and asked how they were, they would say, 'Mustn't grumble' or 'Getting by': now they feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-ravenhill/twenty-years-ago-when-you-bumped-into-someone-and-asked-how-they-were/) [Mark Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ravenhill/) > [Optimism and happiness are not the same thing, but they are becoming interchangeable, and it seemed to me that Voltaire's Candide gave me a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-ravenhill/optimism-and-happiness-are-not-the-same-thing-but-they-are-becoming/) [Mark Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ravenhill/) > [The American journalist Barbara Ehrenreich has written about this in her book Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World (2009)…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-ravenhill/the-american-journalist-barbara-ehrenreich-has-written-about-this-in/) [Mark Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ravenhill/) > [The title's so upfront. It gives fair warning about the play's content. I'm writing about a kind of disenchantment, an anger, but quite a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-ravenhill/the-title-s-so-upfront-it-gives-fair-warning-about-the-play-s-content/) [Mark Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ravenhill/) > [There is a remarkable nimbleness of style, a balancing act of tone, in Voltaire, which is hard to bring off on stage. When you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-ravenhill/there-is-a-remarkable-nimbleness-of-style-a-balancing-act-of-tone-in/) [Mark Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ravenhill/) > [ I have adapted the whole book \[Candid\] into tweets of 140 characters, and these are being sent out daily, at the rate of eight… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-ravenhill/i-have-adapted-the-whole-book-candid-into-tweets-of-140-characters/) [Mark Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ravenhill/) > [In the business world, the idea of positive thinking is absolutely entrenched.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-ravenhill/in-the-business-world-the-idea-of-positive-thinking-is-absolutely/) [Mark Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ravenhill/) > [Theatre within theatre, when characters sees themselves on stage, always raises philosophical questions of choice and free will.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-ravenhill/theatre-within-theatre-when-characters-sees-themselves-on-stage/) [Mark Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ravenhill/) > [Even within single sentences, there are sudden changes of register. And when the travellers go to Venice, they see a play by Voltaire! This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-ravenhill/even-within-single-sentences-there-are-sudden-changes-of-register-and/) [Mark Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ravenhill/) > [Translating Candide into tweets has really deepened my appreciation of his writing - it wouldn't work so well with nineteenth-century authors. Every single sentence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-ravenhill/translating-candide-into-tweets-has-really-deepened-my-appreciation/) [Mark Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ravenhill/) > [Candide is one of those books I read when I was young and that I come back to regularly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-ravenhill/candide-is-one-of-those-books-i-read-when-i-was-young-and-that-i-come/) [Mark Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ravenhill/) > [We are now so far advanced in our denial of evil that we want to rationalise it away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-ravenhill/we-are-now-so-far-advanced-in-our-denial-of-evil-that-we-want-to/) [Mark Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ravenhill/) > [The financial crisis happened because no-one could actually say out loud how bad things were.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-ravenhill/the-financial-crisis-happened-because-no-one-could-actually-say-out/) [Mark Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ravenhill/) > [I have not chosen to create a linear story, but a series of different narratives: in the end there are five plays that almost,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-ravenhill/i-have-not-chosen-to-create-a-linear-story-but-a-series-of-different/) [Mark Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ravenhill/) [Explore all 19 Mark Ravenhill quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ravenhill/) ## More Beats quotes > [Histories never conclude; they just pause their prose. 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Years from now, we will look back at this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-ingraham/certainly-these-are-not-easy-times-but-history-does-not-contain-very/) [Laura Ingraham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-ingraham/) > [I usually write from the rhythm section...If a drummer got a funky beat on some things - like a half-shuffle or a shuffle or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miles-davis/i-usually-write-from-the-rhythm-section-if-a-drummer-got-a-funky-beat/) [Miles Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miles-davis/) > [If you don't like club beats take a HIT OF E and you will love the music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-mccarty/if-you-don-t-like-club-beats-take-a-hit-of-e-and-you-will-love-the/) [Kevin McCarty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-mccarty/) > [Every pitcher can beat you, it doesn't matter how good you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-bonds/every-pitcher-can-beat-you-it-doesn-t-matter-how-good-you-are/) [Barry Bonds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-bonds/) > [Only two to three per cent of an audience is interested in words and pays attention to lyrics; most of the rest of it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-stewart/only-two-to-three-per-cent-of-an-audience-is-interested-in-words-and/) [Al Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-stewart/) > [Joel Lane documents a life we don’t quite live, in a city we can’t quite find: half glimpsed and half imagined, we know it’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chaz-brenchley/joel-lane-documents-a-life-we-don-t-quite-live-in-a-city-we-can-t/) Chaz Brenchley > [Practice to beat the best.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-bennett/practice-to-beat-the-best/) [Dick Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-bennett/) > [I don't know about the rest of the world, but I know in our region everyone is gunning to beat us. We have a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/landon-donovan/i-don-t-know-about-the-rest-of-the-world-but-i-know-in-our-region/) [Landon Donovan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/landon-donovan/) > [Grand business plans are all very well, but nothing beats dipping your toe in the water.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baron-bilimoria-karan-bilimoria/grand-business-plans-are-all-very-well-but-nothing-beats-dipping-your/) Baron Bilimoria Karan Bilimoria > [Let a man who has to make his fortune in life remember this maxim: Attacking is the only secret. Dare and the world yields,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-makepeace-thackeray/let-a-man-who-has-to-make-his-fortune-in-life-remember-this-maxim/) [William Makepeace Thackeray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-makepeace-thackeray/) > [Imagine if you were a drummer, and you accidentally picked up two magic wands instead of sticks. 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