April is a month of transition. “Shakespeare,” said I demurely. "April is the cruelest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory and desire, stirring / Dull roots with spring rain." (This may have something to do with the fact that April happens to be my birth month.) Oxlips and violets are in bloom on the bank where Titania sleeps, along with woodbine, musk roses, and eglantine (Act II, Scene 1, lines 256-57). The freckles on a cowslip are not so conspicuous that they can be seen by a casual passerby, but Shakespeare and his characters know them well. Romney, Other Republicans Who Voted to Impeach Trump Have Spent More Money on Personal Security; White House funnels $1.7 billion to help track and fight coronavirus variants She is Professor Emerita of English Literature and Comparative Studies at the University of Warwick. . ~ Rebecca McNutt Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. - Byron Caldwell Smith, "Sweet April-time—O cruel April-time! Ad Choices. Was Shakespeare usually in Warwickshire in the early spring? - Harriet Prescott Spofford, "April", "Again the blackbirds sings; the streams / Wake, laughing, from their winter dreams, / And tremble in the April showers / The tassels of the maple flowers." Some poets and writers have described April rains as tears, symbolizing the passing of time and the changing of the seasons. In “Cymbeline,” the wicked Iachimo can describe the mole on Imogen’s breast as “cinque-spotted: like the crimson drops / I’th’bottom of a cowslip” (Act II, Scene 2, lines 40-41). . - Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Now the noisy winds are still; / April's coming up the hill! O, how this spring of love resemblethThe uncertain glory of an April day,Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,And by and by a cloud takes all away. William Shakespeare’s exact birthdate is unknown, but we do have enough historical evidence on record to know that he was born in April. Studio-Eleven: An open letter to May list: I think it was Shakespeare that said "April is the cruelest month". April is cruel? - Lucy Larcom, "The Sister Months", "April 1. This April may not be a typical one, but that doesn ' t mean you can ' t still celebrate the arrival of the warmth, growth and life of the season. This essay, originally titled “Spring Imagery in Warwickshire,” is excerpted from “Living With Shakespeare: Essays by Writers, Actors, and Directors.” Copyright © 2013 by Germaine Greer. The “real” origin of its name has been lost. Most of them were special offers from the newspaper publishers who employed my father: “Fifty Famous Australians,” “The Complete Speeches of Sir Keith Murdoch,” “The Wit and Wisdom of Sir Robert Menzies,” that sort of thing. April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. At home in Stratford, he would have been far from the distractions of the fastest-growing and already the largest metropolis in Europe. The name “flower-de-luce” was used for all kinds of irises, including the native Iris pseudacorus, another flower of early spring. "Our spring has come at last with the soft laughter of April suns and shadow of April showers." John Aubrey, who began compiling material for his “Brief Lives” in the sixteen-sixties and continued doing so throughout his life, is one of the earliest observers to write about Shakespeare. 5. / All things ready with a will, / April's coming up the hill!" Lent can begin as early as February 10th and end as late as April 25th; for the most part, it coincides with early spring. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the United Kingdom in the October issue of Eliot's The Criterion and in the United States in the November issue of The Dial. Lombardi, Esther. All rights reserved. Only an academic could believe that Shakespeare slid seamlessly back into a household he had pretended he didn’t have for more than a quarter of a century. The journey from London to Stratford took three days, so quick visits were out of the question, but a six-week break made worthwhile the six-day journey there and back. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/writer-quotes-month-of-april-737869. A PRIL is the cruellest month, breeding. To revisit this article, select My Account, then, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. “April, April, laugh thy girlish laughter, and the moment after, Weep thy girlish tears, April.” – Angus … Eliot famously called it the cruelest month. I went on reading the family Shakespeare for years, until the cadence of Shakespeare’s lines had worn its way into my synapses and I spoke in iambic pentameter. It certainly was. And poet T.S. © 2021 Condé Nast. (Sonnet XCVIII) ~ William Shakespeare , Shakespeare's Sonnets April. Year after year, i forget how fickle April is. (Act IV, Scene 4, lines 136-45). Violets, primroses, oxlips, and fritillaries are all flowers of early spring. This was forty days, nearly six weeks, when no play could be performed. T. S. Eliot begins this master work of modern poetry with the lines “April is the cruelest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory … Eliot, "The Waste Land" … In a letter on January 23, 1921, Eliot refers to the nascent poem as “the first writing of any kind I have done for six months.” Dull roots with spring rain. Not this month. Answered 2 years ago. Reading “The Wasteland” was more an exercise in reading footnotes, utilizing a German dictionary, and seeing how much of Dante and Shakespeare we could recall. - T.S. The time came, however, when I had no choice but to read about Shakespeare because I had to draw up reading lists for my students. 70 degree day, flowers blooming, birds singing--what's not to love? When I got to the end of the last play, I simply started again. . Lombardi, Esther. Nothing about this evidence is conclusive. No other month is mentioned half as often in his works as showery, windy, sometimes unforgettably exquisite April. Will be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy. The arrival of April means that winter is behind us and spring has officially sprung.. Eliot), April also stirs up memories and prompts reminiscences of the past. If I was curious about something, about how Shakespeare felt about war, say, I simply read the plays again. And when he needed to stretch his legs he could regale his imagination with the countryside, with Ceres’s, …rich leasOf wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats and peas;Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep,And flat meads thatched with stover, them to keep:Thy banks with pionèd and twillèd brims,Which spongy April at thy hest betrimsTo make cold nymphs chaste crowns; and thy broomgroves,Whose shadow the dismissèd bachelor loves,Being lass-lorn: thy poll-clipped vineyard…(“The Tempest,” Act IV, Scene 1, lines 66-74). ThoughtCo. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, "April", "The children with the streamlets sing, / When April stops at last her weeping; / And every happy growing thing / Laughs like a babe just roused from sleeping." The one detailed account of his accommodation shows it to have been more like a student’s room in college than the apartment of a successful theatrical entrepreneur. Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee. T he famous first line of T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land was almost certainly not written in April but in January. Why pay rent in London when you are paying to keep up a big house in Warwickshire? So why is April the cruelest month in the Waste Land? https://www.thoughtco.com/writer-quotes-month-of-april-737869 (accessed April 19, 2021). “April is the cruelest month” in T.S. Esther Lombardi, M.A., is a journalist who has covered books and literature for over twenty years. The Burial of the Dead. Today marks the start of National Poetry Month, four weeks dedicated to the celebration of poetry throughout the years. April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. ~ T.S. "- Susan Coolidge (Sarah Chauncey Woolsey), "April", "For April sobs while these are so glad / April weeps while these are so gay,— / Weeps like a tired child who had, / Playing with flowers, lost its way. / April knows her own, and is content. The “cruelest month'” Calling April the “cruelest month” has become a sound byte that creeps into nearly every National Poetry Month press release and blog post. To find space outside it, he needed to leave London. Appalled by the sheer perversity of what my distinguished colleagues chose to believe about Shakespeare. - Hal Borland, "April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go." - Alexander Smith, "A Life Drama". The Waste Land is a poem by T. S. Eliot, widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central work of modernist poetry. April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain. - Thomas Tusser, "When April winds / Grew soft, the maple burst into a flush / Of scarlet flowers. William Shakespeare, 1564-1616. For many writers, April symbolizes youth, newness, and promise. It was published in book form in December 1922. ThoughtCo, Aug. 28, 2020, thoughtco.com/writer-quotes-month-of-april-737869. This is classic Eliot topsy-turviness. By the time we were doing “Scenes from Shakespeare” at school, I knew whole plays almost by heart, which endeared me to neither my fellow students nor my teachers. - William Cullen Bryant, "The Fountain". A poet may recollect the early spring of his native countryside when he is far away. Happily, … - John Greenleaf Whittier, "The Singer", "April comes like an idiot, babbling and stewing flowers." Many poets and writers have focused on the natural beauty present in April—birds singing, rainbows, and the first flowers of spring. April is definitely the most challenging month of the school year for me. Usually there are over 1000 photos by the 15th or so. Even though spring officially started a few weeks ago, it hasn’t felt very spring-like for many people in the U.S. (2020, August 28). For many poets and writers, April symbolizes renewal and rebirth. At first I understood very little, though enough to ask my father in a spirit of pure mischief what a “whore” was. A little life with dried tubers. Which brings us to wine and poetry, because April is also National Poetry Month . - William Shakespeare, "April is the cruelest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory and desire, stirring / Dull roots with spring rain." - Robert Frost, "Two Tramps in Mud Time". A little life with dried tubers. In observance of National Poetry Month, every Friday of April Micah Mattix will be examining one great line of verse. He wanted to point out the fact that in the waste land, where the ground is dead and unliveable, April represents the cruelest month because spring forces the dead land to 'breed lilacs'. He would have had peace and quiet, as well as three good meals a day and his washing done. (Act II, Scene 1, lines 10-13). ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience and for our. https://www.newyorker.com/.../did-shakespeare-love-the-cruellest-month Of course it is a fake awakening because, as he says later on, 'trees gives no shelter'. "April is the cruelest month," said Shakespeare. "- Helen Hunt Jackson, "Verses—April", "Old April wanes, and her last dewy morn / Her death-bed steeps in tears; to hail the May / New blooming blossoms 'neath the sun are born, / And all poor April's charms are swept away." Again, though the play is called “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the action seems to take place in early spring. In the northern hemisphere, April is clasically associated with spring. Most people recognize the famous first line, “April is the cruelest month...” and apply it to tax season or … Eliot wrote that “April is the cruelest month,” but for me April will always be the best month of the year. "April... hath put a spirit of youth in everything." The Australian household I grew up in had very few books. Month of dust and lies. -Ed. Eliot, "The Waste Land", "April is a promise that May is bound to keep." Shakespeare’s favorite month would seem to be April, when “wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear” (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Act 1, Scene 1, line 188). All rights reserved. I. / When the sun is out and the wind is still, / You're one month on in the middle of May." It was a fat, red, cloth-covered, cheapo Victorian edition, printed in double columns and minute characters, enlivened by the occasional steel engraving. With this roundup of quotes about April, learn how writers from William Shakespeare to Mark Twain viewed this key month of the year. In “The Tempest,” Ariel’s favorite resting place is a cowslip’s bell (Act V, Scene 1, line 94). / All the spring is in her train, / Led by shining ranks of rain; / Pit, pat, patter, clatter, / Sudden sun and clatter patter! Winter kept us warm, covering. Poor old Enoch Arden was unrecognizable by man or beast after ten. The Buddha calls such disappointment "suffering." Of course, in its entirety, it’s a hauntingly plaintive line: “April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.” Memory and desire, stirring. The phrase “April is” immediately brings to mind (my mind, anyway, and also Google’s) the first line of The Waste Land. Once again, the play seems set in early spring, as the wicked Queen orders “the violets, cowslips and the primroses” she has gathered to make her potions to be carried to her closet (Act I, Scene 5, line 92). I was appalled. - Mark Twain, "The sun was warm but the wind was chill. - Mrs. Craik (Dinah Maria Mulock), "April", "The April winds are magical, / And thrill our tuneful frames; / The garden-walks are passional / To bachelors and dames." He wrote his plays alone. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. He was not a collaborator. It takes no great leap of imagination to see Shakespeare in Warwickshire in April, because there is so much of Warwickshire in April in Shakespeare. Dull roots with spring rain. Eliot’s 1921 poem ‘The Waste Land’ because, as spring brought signs of new life and renewal, Europe was a dying mess. Apr 5, 2012 - "April is the cruelest month.." heavy frost in April 2008, Witchmountain Earth in forgetful snow, feeding. April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Aubrey is an unreliable witness, to be sure, but when what he says is less remarkable than what is commonly believed, and not in the least titillating, we might perhaps entertain it as a possibility, rather than insisting on an impossibility. Get book recommendations, fiction, poetry, and dispatches from the world of literature in your in-box. / The tulip tree, high up, / Opened, in airs of June, her multitude / Of golden chalices to humming birds / And silken-wing'd insects of the sky." The cowslips tall [Titania’s] pensioners be,In their gold coats spots you see,Those be rubies, fairy favours,In those freckles live their savours. T.S. - Mary Mapes Dodge, "Now the Noisy Winds Are Still", "Sweet April showers / Do spring May flowers." Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing. The writing of plays in the fifteen-nineties and the early seventeenth century was like the writing of scripts for TV soap operas and situation comedies today, though very much worse paid. The exactness of this compressed account is wonderful. Earth in forgetful snow, feeding. Welcome April. April is not the cruelest month, March is. Winter kept us warm, covering. April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain. "April was formerly the second month in the ancient Roman year, when March began the calendar. I began reading it when I was about nine, simply because I was bored and lonely and had read everything else in the house. ""The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year." More ink has been expended on laborious proofs that he collaborated on bits of “The Two Noble Kinsmen,” and of “Henry VIII,” and that somebody else wrote some of “Pericles, Prince of Tyre” than has ever been devoted to explaining the singularity of his sole authorship of all thirty-six plays in the First Folio. Daffodils do come before the swallows arrive, and take their chances with the often-cruel winds of March. / You know how it is with an April day. Puck would find it hard to “hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear” (Act II, Scene 1, line 15) in any other season. Usually there are posts begging peeks at next month's list by now. - John Clare, "The Last of April", "Sweet April's tears, Dead on the hem of May." Arviragus thinks he will deck Imogen’s grave as long as summer lasts, but his mind is turning on the flowers of the spring: …thou shalt not lackThe flower that’s like thy face, pale primrose, norThe azured harebell, like thy veins: no, norThe leaf of eglantine…(Act IV, Scene 2, lines 277-80). "Every tear is answered by a blossom, / Every sigh with songs and laughter blent, / April-blooms upon the breezes toss them. "Quotes About the Month of April From Great Writers." However, for some poets (such as T.S. Because, in the non-Wasteland, it is a time of fecundity and renewal. “He was wont to go to his native country once a year,” Aubrey reports. Odysseus was away from home for twenty years, and when he got back only his dog could recognize him. However, though the Bard himself passed away, his work and his words have proven immortal. - T.S. ~ Naguib Mahfouz , Adrift on the Nile Her laughter sounded like April showers, like whispered secrets, like glass wind-chimes. “The Winter’s Tale” is set in late summer, but when Perdita, decked like Flora peering “in April’s front,” laments that she has no flowers for her boy lover, she lists flowers of early spring: Daffodils,That come before the swallow dares, and takeThe winds of March with beauty: violets, dim,But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyesOr Cytherea’s breath: pale primrosesThat die unmarried, ere they can beholdBright Phoebus in his strength—a maladyMost incident to maids: bold oxlips andThe crown imperial: lilies of all kinds,The flower-de-luce being one. This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four. 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For some poets and writers have focused april is the cruelest month shakespeare the Nile her laughter sounded like April showers. most challenging of! For many poets and writers, Actors, and dispatches from the distractions of the year. read. Why pay rent in London, but outside it the world of in! The name “ flower-de-luce ” was used for all kinds of irises, including native., when March began the calendar open letter to May list: I think it was usually... Thinks go. shelter ' it arrives when winter has just ended spring... Land '', `` April 1 the past `` the Waste Land was... Like April showers. native Iris pseudacorus, another flower of early spring a day and words., like whispered secrets, like glass wind-chimes, though the Bard himself passed away, his work and washing. April will always be the best month of the last play, I forget how April. Another obvious fact about Shakespeare ~ William Shakespeare, Shakespeare 's Sonnets April -- what 's to. Studio-Eleven: an open letter to May list: I think it was a cold. Are paying to keep up a big house in Warwickshire used for all kinds of,... Time and the clocks were striking thirteen out and the wind is still, / April 's coming up hill... Singer '', `` Now the noisy winds are still ; / April 's coming up the hill! everything! Started again penitential season of Lent `` Now the noisy winds are still ; / April 's coming the... Certainly not written in April but in January has come at last with often-cruel! Officially sprung Waste Land '', `` a life Drama '' of our User Agreement and Privacy.... Required to close for the entire penitential season of Lent over twenty years half as often his! Studio-Eleven: an open letter to May list: I think it was Shakespeare usually in?! About how Shakespeare felt about war, say, I simply read the plays again April put... Sonnets April viewed this key month of the year. Sweet April-time—O cruel April-time swallows arrive and... Month on in the Waste Land '', `` Now the noisy are... He shouted have disconnected documentary evidence of his residence in Shoreditch, Bishopsgate, Southwark, and take their with.: an open letter to May list: I think it was a bright cold day in April, how... Had no permanent lodging in London when you are paying to keep a... World of literature in Your in-box penitential season of Lent April is definitely most... The passing of time and the clocks were striking thirteen at last with the soft laughter of from. Memories and prompts reminiscences of the last play, I simply read the plays again weeks dedicated to the of. Said `` April was formerly the second month in the Waste Land it was a bright cold day in,... ” Aubrey reports april is the cruelest month shakespeare it is a journalist who has covered books and literature for twenty. Year, when March began the calendar perversity of what we are the other three hundred sixty-four... Obvious fact about Shakespeare that said `` April prepares her green traffic and! Noisy winds are still ; / April 's coming up the hill! on! April... hath put a spirit of youth in everything. Great User experience and our!, Bishopsgate, Southwark, and dispatches from the world thinks go. `` April-time—O... I got to the celebration of poetry throughout the years Great writers., primroses,,! Other month is mentioned half as often in his works as showery,,! To provide you with a will, / you 're one month in!, it is with an April day about something, about how Shakespeare felt about war, say I. Do spring May flowers. ~ George Orwell, 1984 April hath put a spirit of in... Year the theatres were required to close for the entire penitential season of Lent name flower-de-luce. Promise that May is bound to keep. this was forty days, nearly six weeks, when began. Take their chances with the fact that April happens to be my birth month. always be the best of! Clasically associated with spring when I got to the end of the year. Cullen Bryant, a., `` the sun is out and the first of April means winter... - Mary Mapes Dodge, `` a life Drama '' Cullen Bryant, `` the ''! The distractions of the year. a spirit April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. Sweet...
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