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By William Shakespeare. (from Cymbeline) Fear no more the heat o’ the sun, Nor the furious winter’s rages; Thou thy worldly task hast done, Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages: Golden lads and girls all must, As chimney-sweepers, come to dust. Fear no more the frown o’ the great; Thou art past the tyrant’s stroke; Care no more to clothe and eat;
Fear no more the heat ‘o the sun, Nor the furious winter’s rages; Thou they worldly task hast done, Home art gone, and ta’en they wages: Golden lads and girls all must. As chimney-sweepers, come to dust. Fear no more the frown o’ the great, Thou are past the tyrant’s stroke; Care no more to clothe and eat;
The meaning of the song is simple: if you’re dead, you need fear no more either the excessive heat of the summer sun, nor the harsh winter cold; you’ve done your duty, and have gone ‘home’ back to the earth which bore you; everyone must die, from the highest-born and the fittest (‘Golden lads and girls’) to the lowest-born and the ...
- Summary of Fear No More The Heat O’ The Sun
- Themes in Fear No More The Heat O’ The Sun
- Structure and Form
- Literary Devices
- Analysis of Fear No More The Heat O’ The Sun
- Similar Poems
In the lines of the poem/song, the two speakers go through all the reasons that the listeners, who can’t actually hear them, should be glad their dead. They are rid of all work, jobs, and responsibilities that the real world would demand of them. They also don’t have to worry about punishments from those in power or following any set of rules. Ther...
The primary theme in ‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun’ is quite clear, it is death. The lines of this poem/song are quite simple, especially for Shakespeare, and convey quite clearly the speakers’ interest, death, and the escape it provides from life. They take turns laying out all the reasons that someone who has died should be glad they did. Thi...
Song: “Fear no more the heat o’ the sun” by William Shakespeare is a four stanza excerpt from the play Cymbeline. These four verses of the song, or stanzas in this context, follow a rhyme scheme ABCBDD, changing end sounds from stanza to stanza. There is a good example of repetition at the end of the first three stanzas where Shakespeare uses epist...
Shakespeare makes use of several literary devices in ‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun’. These include but are not limited to juxtaposition, enjambment, and an example of an apostrophe. The first, juxtaposition, is seen through the various things that the speakerbelieves dead people no longer have to concern themselves with. A good example can be f...
Stanza One
In the first stanza of ‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun’ from Cymbeline, the first of the two singers, Guiderius, directs his words to the dead bodies at his feet (one of whom isn’t actually deceased). He takes a hopeful approach to death, telling the dead (a technique known as apostrophe) that they should be happy to be rid of the many fears life presents. They no longer have to worry about the heat of the sun or the “furious winter’s rages”. There are no more tasks to complete or jobs to d...
Stanza Two
The second stanza of ‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun’ is very similar to the first in that the speaker is talking the listeners, who are dead or incapacitated, through the various reasons why they’re lucky to be dead. They no longer have to worry about judgment from the living or punishment from those in power. No one needs to worry about money to buy clothes or food, one thing is like the next. No one is rich and no one is poor. Once again, the stanza ends with an allusionto the fact that...
Stanzas Three and Four
In the next stanza of ‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun’, the speakers switch again and go through more reasons why death is safer and more secure than life. There are no dangers, physical or emotional, to be afraid of. No slander nor joy nor sorrow. All lovers die, no matter how happy they are, the speaker concludes. The fourth and final stanza of the poem is different than those which came before it. The rhyme scheme changes and so does the use of punctuation. Here, Shakespeare ends the fir...
Readers who enjoyed ‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun’ from Shakespeare should also consider reading his 154 sonnets. These are mostly focused around the Fair Youth, a young man whose identity has never been determined. Or, alternatively, readers might find themselves drawn to other excerpts from plays. For example, ‘All the World’s a Stage’from As...
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- October 9, 1995
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SONG. Fear no more the heat o' th' sun, Nor the furious winter's rages; Thou thy worldly task hast done, Home art gone and ta'en thy wages. Golden lads and girls all must. As...
Golden lads and girls all must, As chimney sweepers come to dust. Fear no more the frown of the great, Thou art past the tyrant's stroke: Care no more to clothe and eat; To thee the reed is...
English source: William Shakespeare. Fear no more the heat o’ the sun, Nor the furious winter’s rages; Thou thy worldly task hast done, Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages: Golden lads and girls all must, As chimney-sweepers, come to dust. Fear no more the frown o’ the great; Thou art past the tyrant’s stroke;
