Note to A Midsummer's Night Dream, 2.1.101: "want their winter here"


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A Midsummer's Night Dream,
Act 2, Scene 1, Line 101.
want: lack. —From the previous lines and following lines, it seems that Oberon's quarrel with Titania has confused the seasons. Up to this point, Titania has been describing an eternal mid-spring, with a lot of rain, mud, and growing grass. The next line, "No night is now with hymn or carol blest," reminds us that winter brings its comforts, too. The following lines describe a chaotic mixture of seasons, in which there is frost on roses, and flowers bud in winter. All in all, Titania's point is that Oberon has made a hash of the regular cycle of seasons, upon which humans depend.