101 Poems, Number 24

Favorite Poems Throughout My Life

24: “Well, come, my Kate,” from The Taming of the Shrew (4.3—or 4.1, depending on whose edition you consult), 1593(?), by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

This was among the very first

Of speeches by the Bard I learned.

(Back then I wasn’t too well versed

In Shakespeare lines. But then I turned

Into a total Bard-o-phile

And learned his lines so eagerly.)

Now I remember—now I smile.

Those days when I first came to see

That teaching Shakespeare was a way

To bring to students in my class

A different dawn, a different day—

A different kind of looking glass.

My students* learned this speech as well—

Oh, cruel teacher! What a crime!

But when they did it? I could tell

They had pure pride—not wasted time.

*Harmon (Middle) School; Aurora, Ohio; late 1980s, early 90s.

PETRUCHIO

Well, come, my Kate; we will unto your father's

Even in these honest mean habiliments:

Our purses shall be proud, our garments poor;

For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich;

And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,

So honour peereth in the meanest habit.

What is the jay more precious than the lark,

Because his fathers are more beautiful?

Or is the adder better than the eel,

Because his painted skin contents the eye?

O, no, good Kate; neither art thou the worse

For this poor furniture and mean array.

if thou account'st it shame. lay it on me;

And therefore frolic: we will hence forthwith,

To feast and sport us at thy father's house.