Bard Bits: Spring
Having grown up in a town surrounded by the country, William Shakespeare was comfortable and familiar with the onset of spring. Since the 20th marks the beginning of spring, according to my Dollar Store calendar, here is WS’s tribute to spring in a poem appropriately titled “Spring.”
When daisies pied and violets blue
And lady-smocks all silver-white
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men; for thus sings he,
Cuckoo;
Cuckoo, cuckoo:
Oh word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!
When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
And merry larks are plowmen’s clocks,
When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,
And maidens bleach their summer smocks,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men; for thus sings he,
Cuckoo;
Cuckoo, cuckoo:
Oh word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!
For those interested in analyzing possible intent in his words, click “here.“
Being Shakespeare, it is par for the course that he would mix in references to country life, marriage, and the season. There are times I wonder if WS would have found a niche as a country western singer had he traveled in this era.
Pam Webb 