Twelfth Night “Hey, Ho, The Wind and the Rain”

This post may contain affiliate links. Please check out my privacy policy and disclosure policy.

*The Clown, Feste, sings this song at the end of the play. it is a gloomy history of his growth from childhood. The repeated refrain “the rain is raineth everyday,” is a particularly bleak vision of the world, especially of a world that has provided the extraordinarily happy ending of the play. But Feste’s account of the continuous rain is deliberately overstated, designed to make us aware of how much sunshine and delight there is in our lives.

When that I was and a little tiny boy,
    With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
    For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man’s estate,
    With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
‘Gainst knaves and thieves men shut the gate,
    For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came, alas! to wive,
    With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
    For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came unto my beds,
    With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
    For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world begun,
    With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that’s all one, our play is done,
    And we’ll strive to please you every day.

swaggering – bullying

beds – sickbed

tosspots – drunkards

Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 381-400

From Amazon

*From

Poetry for young people
Willian Shakespeare