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What does "come hither, come hither" mean in the "Under the Greenwood Tree" poem from As You Like It?
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In "Under the Greenwood Tree," "come hither, come hither" invites listeners to join the peaceful, idyllic life in the Forest of Arden. The phrase "come hither" means "come here," suggesting an escape from the perilous court life to a simpler existence where nature is the only challenge. The song, sung by Amiens in As You Like It, highlights the tranquility and freedom found in the forest compared to the dangers of political intrigue in the palace.
In the Forest of Arden, Duke Senior and his fellow exiles are living an idyllic life. They spend a lot of time idling—playing music, singing, sometimes dancing, and writing love poems. While Shakespeare makes this life of leisure seem attractive, he also mocks it directly and includes the character of Jaques, a melancholic who cannot be happy anywhere, to voice the critique.
In Act II, Scene 1, Duke Senior talks up the virtues of their situation. He asks his “co-mates and brothers in exile” if they don’t agree that their new rural retreat is wonderful, and they should look for the best even if they think it is a bad situation: “Are not these woods/ More free from peril than the envious court?.... Sweet are the uses of advertsity.” Amiens, one of the loyal men, compliments him on his sunny outlook but does not sound entirely convinced. In Act...
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II, Scene 5, Jaques enters with Amiens, one of the duke’s men, who is singing this song:
Under the greenwood tree
Who loves to lie with me,
And turn his merry note
Unto the sweet bird's throat,
Come hither, come hither, come hither.
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.
While they are there in the summer, the weather is good, and they can loll around listening to birds sing, and everything is lovely. “Hither” was commonly used for “here” in the sense of “to where I am” in Elizabethan times. Amiens calls “come hither” to anyone around who would like to “lie with” him, which can mean lounge around or have sexual relations. Later in the scene, Jaques asks him to sing a parody that he wrote, calling himself and the other exiles “gross fools” for leaving behind their “wealth and ease.”
The words “come hither” mean “come here,” because the singer is describing how peaceful it is in the country under the greenwood tree compared to the Duke’s Palace where they lived before the duke’s brother sent them all into exile.
The poem “Under the Greenwood Tree” is actually a song from the play As You Like It. In the play, a duke is sent into exile by his evil brother. The followers of the duke gather in Arden Forest, where they find the scene very peaceful. The song is sung by a character named Ainiens, who certainly seems to enjoy the slower, more peaceful existence of the forest.
Come hither, come hither, come hither;
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather. (Act 2, Scene 5)
The song is short, but it means that they have no enemies but the weather, as opposed to the duke’s enemies and their enemies in the palace. The song is a celebration of the fact that they are free, away from the palace intrigue, and relatively safe for now, away from "ambition."