by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Blow, blow thou winter wind
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Language: English
Blow, blow thou winter wind, Thou art not so unkind As man's ingratitude; Thy tooth is not so keen Because thou art not seen, Although thy breath be rude. Heigh ho! sing heigh ho! unto the green holly: Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly: Then, heigh ho! the holly! This life is most jolly. Freeze, freeze thou bitter sky, Thou dost not bite so nigh As benefits forgot: Though thou the waters warp, Thy sting is not so sharp As friend remember'd not. Heigh ho! sing heigh ho! unto the green holly: Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly: Then, heigh ho! the holly! This life is most jolly.
Available sung texts: ← What is this?
• T. Arne • F. Bridge • A. Clearfield • W. Fortner • D. Holman • E. Korngold • C. Parry • D. SteeleT. Arne sets stanzas 1:1-6, 2:1-6
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View text with all available footnotesNote: In Steele's score, "Heigh" is spelled "Hey"
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
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Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 118