Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, COMPLIMENT TO QUEEN ELIZABETH, FR. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

COMPLIMENT TO QUEEN ELIZABETH, FR. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: My gentle puck, come hither
Last Line: Fetch me that flower.
Variant Title(s): Maiden Meditation
Subject(s): Elizabeth I, Queen Of England (1533-1603; Fairies; Elves


OBERON. -- My gentle Puck, come hither. Thou remember'st
Since once I sat upon a promontory.
And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back,
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude sea grew civil at her song,
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
To hear the sea-maid's music.
PUCK. -- I remember.
OBERON -- That very time I saw (but thou couldst not),
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid all armed: a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal throned by the west,
And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts:
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quenched in the chaste beams of the watery moon,
And the imperial votaress passed on,
In maiden meditation, fancy free.
Yet marked I where the bolt of Cupid fell:
It fell upon a little western flower
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,
And maidens call it Love-in-idleness.
Fetch me that flower.




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