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  • 25 Lines or Fewer

Song: “Blow, blow, thou winter wind”

By William Shakespeare

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.
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.


   Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
   That dost not bite so nigh
      As benefits forgot:
   Though thou the waters warp,
      Thy sting is not so sharp
      As friend remembered not.
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly...

Poet Bio

Image of William Shakespeare

Actor, dramatist, and poet, William Shakespeare is the most highly regarded writer in the English language. Born in Stratford-Upon-Avon in England, Shakespeare wrote 38 plays, including Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet. His epic narrative poems and 154 sonnets include some of the world’s most quoted lines.

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