Poignant Shakespeare

I am currently learning a choral piece based on Shakespeare’s song “Blow, blow thou Winter Wind” from his play As you Like It. The music is absolutely beautiful and interestingly reflects the text. Stephen Chatman (composer) has done a marvelous job of creating this ironic juxtaposition of calm and contented music against a text that talks about the pain of human ingratitude and how human attachments are foolish and painful while nature is sure, predictable, reassuring in its constancy.


Here is the text:

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 if feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then heigh-ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly.

Freeze, freeze thou bitter sky,
that does not bite so nigh
as benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As a friend remembered 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.

As I listen to the recording I can feel the bite of winter wind piercing through the layers of clothing. I can feel the sting on my face, making my eyes water and yet, that sting is never is so deep as that felt when we are hurtful to each other. Although the freezing cold pains, it does not compare to the injury when those we hold dear forget us, reject us, neglect us.

The 2 verses juxtaposed between (the “heigh-ho” sections) are seemingly an attempt to look past the sting of cold or pain and be “green.” To be joyful at all times as the holly tree is always green and alive, so must we be despite the feigning or folly of our human need for human interactions that end in hurt. The music changes at these sections to a more fanciful and dance-like feel until the reality of man’s ingratitude once again intrudes on the singers state and he reiterates this concept that “friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly” and the dance-like moment becomes again, solemn and introspective. The final line “life is most jolly” is countered by a distinct diminuendo in the music and a sense that the “jolly” is disappearing, sliding into oblivion, as the choral parts try (in 3 struggling repetitions of the word “jolly”) to regain some sense of the joy but are unable and thus reflect man’s struggle to remain joyful in light of such ingratitude.

This song has adhered itself to my brain for weeks now…not just because the melody is hauntingly beautiful but the text resonates with me. We complain about the weather but in the end, it is fairly predictable…in the winter it is cold, the wind bites, my eyes water and yet that is as it should be. I should expect that and be prepared for it. Winter is winter. In its predictability, winter is kind and constant. It is the unkindness, the unpredictability of human connections that are most painful.

More fodder for the brain. Enjoy the literary analysis and let us all try to keep others from having reason to sing this with us in mind!