a. CE 101 - Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind by William Shakespeare
Channel: Ishan Marvel
Date: 03/12/2020

From THE BLOSSOMING MIND
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTSoWRKkWJTZHH9sr7bmr37Wd16TTbRbr

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
* Often considered the greatest dramatist/poet in the English language, known for the truth and depth of emotions and human psycholgy depicted in his works.
* Although he was formally uneducated, Shakespeare became a popular professional playwright -- starting his career as an actor and writer in a theatre company in London, wherein he soon became a shareholder.
* In 1599, the company built its own Globe Theatre, where most of his plays were staged, e.g. comedies such as 'As you Like It' and 'Twelfth Night', and tragedies like 'Julius Caesar', 'Halmet', 'Othello', 'King Lear', 'Macbeth', etc.


Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind
* The poem is a song from Shakespeare's play 'As You Like It'. In the play, the noble Duke's "unkind" younger brother unlawfully occupies the throne, and the rightful Duke has to live in exile in the neighbouring Forest of Arden (which is conceived as a natural idyll, a land of "do as you please" in contrast to the urban court and society, which is fully of intrigues and gossip). A number of courtiers accompany him to the forest, and while they are living there, one of them, Amiens, sings this song. (The main plot also presents an 'unkind' elder brother who tries to get his younger brother killed, and who also ends up in Arden and meets the Duke in exile.)
* The song compares the harshness of rough winter with the ungratefulness of those whom we have helped. It is natural for the winter wind to be chilly and biting, so it does not hurt us as much. However, it is not expected of human beings that they would be ungrateful, so it hurts us much more. In other words, the winter wind's harshness is acting according to its nature, so one cannot blame it -- unlike the actions of a calculating human mind that often willfully breaks our trust and hurts us. 
* The song makes a bitter comment on human relationships and social structures. He says that often the so-called friendship is merely a pretension on the part of self-centred persons. Similarly, what appears to be love is often no more than superficial fondness without ay deeper emotion. Living in a forest, with all the hardships of rough weather, is therefore less painful than living in society where we see all kinds of distortions. So, the singer advocates for a carefree life in the lap of nature (as in Arden), and invites the listeners to live in the forest where there are green trees like the evergreen holly.
* This sentiment precursors the whole City vs. Country dualism and the 'Pastoral' genre of art and literature, whereby rustic life and people are romanticised while the city is ridiculed for its superficial trends and filth.


SUMMARY:
It must describe the main themes and structure of a literary/artistic work 
(poem/essay/story/film, etc.). You need to capture the essence of the work in your own words, using minimal details for illustration.
Exam-wise, should not exceed a single page.

Reference to Context:
Provide the name of the author and title of the work from where the given lines are taken. Then, in a sentence or two, describe the main theme/central idea/context of the work, before explaining the meaning and context of the given lines (who said it to whom, why, where, when, etc.)