Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind Summary and Explanation
BSEB Class 9 English Poem 3 Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind Summary, Explanation along with Difficult Word Meanings and Poetic Devices from English Panorama-I Book
Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind Summary – Are you looking for the summary, theme and Lesson explanation for Bihar School Education Board (BSEB) Class 9 English Poem 3 – Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind from English Main Course Book. Get Lesson summary, theme, explanation along with difficult word meanings
BSEB Class 9 English Panorama I Book Poem 3 – Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind
by William Shakespeare
Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind’ is about man’s ingratitude. The cold winter wind does not cause so much suffering as a man’s ingratitude. The verse is a part of Shakespeare’s play titled ‘As You Like It’.
- Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind Summary
- Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind Summary in Hindi
- Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind Theme
- Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind Explanation
- Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind Poetic Devices
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Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind Summary
The winter wind is described as being cold, biting, and powerful. It can freeze the bitter sky and the water bodies. However, it is not as rude, cruel, and sharp as a man’s ingratitude. The winter wind does not bite him sharply when the poet becomes unbeneficial. However, the people around him are fake and turn on him when the poet becomes unbeneficial. The poet believes that people are more cruel because they forget friends when they don’t need them. He finds every friend to be fake. He also thinks that people who are genuine are foolish. The poet injects humour and irony by singing about how life is mostly full of happiness despite fake friendships and foolish people.
Summary of the Poem Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind in Hindi
शीत ऋतु की हवा को ठंडी, चुभने वाली और शक्तिशाली बताया गया है। यह कठोर आकाश को जमा सकती है और पानी को मोड़ सकती है। हालांकि, यह मनुष्य की कृतघ्नता जितनी कठोर, क्रूर और तीखी नहीं है। जब कवि किसी के प्रति अनुदार हो जाता है, तो शीत ऋतु की हवा उसे तीखे ढंग से नहीं काटती। लेकिन उसके आसपास के लोग पाखंडी हैं और कवि के अनुदार होने पर उसके विरुद्ध हो जाते हैं। कवि का मानना है कि लोग अधिक क्रूर होते हैं क्योंकि जब उन्हें उसकी आवश्यकता नहीं होती, तो वे महत्वपूर्ण बातों को भूल जाते हैं। उसे हर मित्र पाखंडी लगता है। वह यह भी सोचता है कि सच्चे लोग मूर्ख होते हैं। कवि इस गीत में हास्य और व्यंग्य का प्रयोग करता है कि पाखंडी मित्रता और मूर्ख लोगों के बावजूद जीवन अधिकतर खुशियों से भरा होता है।
Theme of the Poem Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind
The poem is themed about a man’s ingratitude. The cold winter is compared to a man’s ingratitude throughout this poem. The poet, William Shakespeare, concludes that the cold winter wind does not hurt as much as a man’s ingratitude and forgetfulness. The poem is structured in a musical manner to highlight the ironical humour behind the nature of human beings. The thing which is ironical is that the cold winter wind, which is chilling enough to freeze people and objects and cause a snowstorm and strong enough to bend water, is not as sharp and hurtful as ungrateful words from someone we love. The juxtaposition between harsh weather and fake people is highlighted to again show irony. Fake people hurt more than harsh weather, and genuine people are foolish.
Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind Poem Explanation
Poem:
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.
Word-meanings:
thou: you
art: are
ingratitude: lack of gratitude, unthankfulness
thy: your
keen: sharp, penetrating
breath: air drawn into or, expelled from the lungs (here) it refers to the gusts of wind
rude: impolite, uncivilized, offensive
Explanation: The poet urges the winter wind to blow and blow. The poet finds the winter wind to be not as ungrateful and rude as the people around him. The winter wind is not as sharp and penetrating as thankless human beings. The winter wind is cold but less cold and rude than most people. Therefore, the poet has no problem with the winter wind blowing.
Poem:
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto this green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Word-meanings:
heigh-ho: sound repeated in the song for the sake of music
unto: old term for until
holly: an evergreen shrub with prickly leaves.
feigning: affectation, false pretence, imaginary
mere: something small and significant
folly: lack of common sense or foolishness
Explanation: The poet sings and encourages the readers to sing along about how most friendships are fake and those who truly love people are foolish. This puts humour in the poem.
Poem:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.
Word-meanings:
jolly: cheerful, jovial, festive, joyful, merry
Explanation: This stanza is humorous and sarcastic. The poet sings and says how life is cheerful and joyful. This contradicts the previous stanza where he sings about fake relationships and foolish people who think of being genuine. Perhaps he is taking the bitterness in his stride and trying to feel happy.
Poem:
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember’d not.
Word-meanings:
bitter: showing mental pain, full of affliction, bitingly cold.
dost: does
nigh: almost, near
warp: make something bent or twisted
remember’d: remembered
Explanation: The poet points out the juxtaposition and irony between the winter wind and ungrateful people. Winter wind can freeze the sky. The sky is described to be bitter because it reflects the poet’s inner mental pain. It also shows that when the winter wind blows, the sky is grey and cold. The winter wind is not just cold but also powerful. It can even freeze water. However, regardless of the sharp cold and strength of the winter wind, the poet still believes that one who pretends to be a friend and forgets him hurts more than the winter wind.
Poem:
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.
Explanation: These two passages are repeated to make the poem seem more musical and lyrical. It further highlights the fake people we come across in life and the foolishness of genuine people in a humorous manner.
Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind Poetic Devices
Rhyme Scheme: The rhyme scheme for stanzas 1 and 4 is AABCCB. For stanzas 2, 3, 5, and 6, the rhyme scheme is AA.
Alliteration: In this poetic device, one consonant sound is repeated in two or more consecutive words. For example, in stanza 1, “Blow, blow,” and “winter wind” have repetition of ‘b’ and ‘w’ sounds consecutively. Other examples are: “Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho!”, “friendship is feigning”, “heigh-ho! the holly!”, “Freeze, freeze”, “Though thou the”, and “waters warp”.
Simile: In this poetic device, one thing is compared to another with the help of ‘as’ and ‘like’. For example:
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude;
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember’d not.
Personification: In this poetic device, the winter wind is personified to have teeth not as sharp as the poet’s friends. It is described to be harsh, biting, rude, and cruel but not as much as human beings.
Repetition: One word is repeated throughout the poem in the poetic device. For example, the word “heigh-ho”.
Imagery: This poetic device shows vivid description of a scene, helping the readers imagine a scenery. In this poem, the description of the winter wind paints a grey winter sky in the reader’s mind.
Conclusion
This post covers the poem ‘Blow, blow, Thou Winter Wind’ by William Shakespeare from BSEB Class 9 English Tulip reader. Students can take help of the summary and explanation to get a quick recap of the poem.