Miko: annotations

Winter. Used poetically to present winter as a person.

This word can have one or both of two meanings. 1) Extreme and harmful weather conditions. 2) The disagreement between Titania and Oberon.

These confusing lines have been variously explained. Some editors change “here” to “cheer”, meaning that because of the disastrous summer, winter is bleak because there is no food, and so there are no winter celebrations. J. S. Armour breaks the lines into two sentences, the first meaning that people wish it were winter, and the second meaning that hymns have not been sung to the moon (as referenced in the next line).

These lines refer to mazes that were cut into lawns. The mazes were kept visible because players continually ran along the paths. Because of the bad weather, nobody ran along the paths and so the paths disappeared.

a pen for animals

flesh of an animal that has died from disease

In nine men's morris, a game board can be easily drawn on various surfaces, including cutting it into turf. Two players compete using playing pieces called “men”. Each player has nine men.

Paltry. Titania is saying that the storms were so severe that even small rivers overflowed their banks.

Titania says that if Oberon is her lord, then she must be his wife. She then goes on to accuse him of infidelity.

Titania is saying that the winds made music for them (“piping”) but did so in vain because they could not dance to the music.