I've set the following text for lute and voice and am still revising.
I am wondering about line 23. What do you think it means? Just simply
cold, as in 'a nip in the air'? or does 'blood' have something to do
with 'foul'? I don't get 'ways be foul'. I guess tu-whit is
onomatopoeia and not 'to wit' meaning that is to know" but I am not
an ornithologist.
Winter
19 When icicles hang by the wall,
20 And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
21And Tom bears logs into the hall,
22 And milk comes frozen home in pail,
23When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul,
24Then nightly sings the staring-owl,
25 Tu-who;
26Tu-whit, tu-who--a merry note,
27While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
28 When all aloud the wind doth blow,
29 And coughing drowns the parson's saw,
30And birds sit brooding in the snow,
31 And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
32When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
33Then nightly sings the staring owl,
34 Tu-who;
35Tu-whit, tu-who--a merry note,
36While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
Notes
18] nail: blow one's nails, so as to keep one's hands warm.
"saw"speech
27] keel: cool the pot by stirring, straining, etc.
32] crabs: crab-apples.
Original text: William Shakespeare, Loves Labours Lost (1598); facs.
edn. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957). PR 2750 B22 1957 Victoria
College Library
First publication date: 1598
Composition date: 1594 - 1595
Rhyme: ababccdee
Ed Durbrow
Saitama, Japan
[email protected]
http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/
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