Alas, poor Yorick

In my discussion of Hamlet and his journey through life and death, I would be remiss if I left this famous speech out. The once familiar funny court jester that Hamlet runs into on his return home is not at the top of his form. What's left of him is a skeleton next to a grave. The humor of his old looks and for that matter his life are now long gone.

I include the modern English text instead of Shakespearean English. I find the contemporary vernacular for this excerpt easier in following Shakespeare's line of thinking.

"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite fun, of most excellent imagination. He has carried me on his back a thousand times, and now, how repulsed it is in my imagination! I want to vomit. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I don’t know how many times. Where are your jokes now?"

"Your games? Your songs? Your flashes of laughter that always make the audience roar? No one now, to mock your own grinning? Quite jaw−fallen? Now, get you to my lady's bedroom, and tell her, let her put on make−up an inch thick, she must come to this party, make her laugh at that." (Hamlet 5.1)

Source: Hamlet e-text with modern translation (pdf file)