When That I Was and a Little Tiny Boy
E496757
"When That I Was and a Little Tiny Boy" is a melancholic, reflective song sung by the clown Feste at the end of Shakespeare’s comedy *Twelfth Night*, often interpreted as a commentary on the play’s themes of folly, time, and human experience.
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
literary work
ⓘ
poem ⓘ song ⓘ |
| appearsIn | Twelfth Night NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| associatedCharacter | Feste NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| associatedGenre | Shakespearean comedy NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| associatedWorkAuthor | William Shakespeare NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| audienceEffect | bittersweet reflection at the end of a comedy ⓘ |
| author | William Shakespeare NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| characterPerformer | Feste NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| culturalContext | early modern English theatre ⓘ |
| dramaticFunction |
closure to the action of Twelfth Night
ⓘ
epilogue-like commentary ⓘ |
| firstLine | When that I was and a little tiny boy NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| form | lyric ⓘ |
| genre |
dramatic song
ⓘ
melancholic song ⓘ song ⓘ |
| hasCharacterPerspective | fool’s perspective on life ⓘ |
| interpretation |
commentary on the persistence of folly through life stages
ⓘ
reflection on the gap between comedy and real life ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| literaryMovement | Elizabethan drama NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| literaryPeriod | English Renaissance NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| medium |
song performance
ⓘ
text ⓘ |
| meter | irregular ⓘ |
| partOf | Twelfth Night NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| performedAs | song in stage productions of Twelfth Night ⓘ |
| positionInWork | final song of the play Twelfth Night ⓘ |
| recurringImage | rain ⓘ |
| recurringMotive | endurance through adversity ⓘ |
| refrain | For the rain it raineth every day ⓘ |
| rhymeScheme | stanzaic rhyme ⓘ |
| settingInWork | sung at the end of Twelfth Night ⓘ |
| sungBy | Feste NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| theme |
folly
ⓘ
human experience ⓘ mortality ⓘ resignation ⓘ the constancy of human folly ⓘ the hardships of life ⓘ the passage of time ⓘ time ⓘ |
| tone |
melancholic
ⓘ
reflective ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.