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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

What's a kirtle, anyway?

Let's face it. We weren't born in the 16th century and some Shakespearean language can be a little confusing. Archaic words and odd spellings can make it hard to understand exactly what you're singing about.

Maybe this will help.

Live with me and be my love
A kirtle is one of these. It's just the outermost layer of clothing. Myrtle is a variety of plant with shiny green leaves and often flowers. So, the line "A cap of flowers, and a kirtle embroidered all with leaves of myrtle" simply describes an embroidered piece of clothing.

Philomel refers to Philomela, who was the victim of some rather nasty Greek events which led to her losing her tongue and being turned into either a swallow or a nightingale, depending on the version of the myth you read. What exactly is meant by the line "And Philomel becometh dumb; the rest complains of cares to come" seems to be up to debate. Anyone have any interpretations?

(Incidentally, though Shearing attributes this text to Shakespeare, it's actually by one of his contemporaries, Christopher Marlowe (with a little bit by Sir Walter Raleigh in the "Birthday Madrigals" text). Rutter gets it right. If, however, you want to argue that Marlowe or Raleigh was Shakespeare...well, that's a whole other discussion.)

When daffodils begin to peer
According to The Riverside Shakespeare, pugging means thieving. This makes sense in the line "Doth set my pugging tooth an edge, for a quart of ale is a dish for a king" when you consider that this song is pretty much all about giving into your passions.

Spring/When daisies pied
In case you were wondering just exactly why the cuckoo is mocking married men, here's the short answer: cuckoos, along with many, many other things, were symbols of cuckoldry.

There's of course a lot of other stuff going on in these pieces, which can be discovered based on the poetry itself and, in the case of the Shakespearean texts, the context of the plays from which they come. For those of you that see this and think, "Ugh, I've never liked Shakespeare," don't worry---there won't be a test and you don't have to write an essay.

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