WORMWOOD

*Dian’s Bud*

OBERON

Be, as thou wast wont to be,

See, as thou wast wont to see;

DIAN’S BUD o’er Cupid’s flower

Hath such force and blessed power.

—A Midsummer Night’s Dream [Act IV, sc. 1]

NURSE

For I had then laid

WORMWOOD to my dug.

Sitting in the sun

under the dove-house wall;

. . . as I said,

when it did taste

the WORMWOOD

on the nipple

Of my dug, and felt it bitter,

pretty fool . . .

—Romeo and Juliet [Act I, sc. 3]

Thy secret pleasure turns to open shame,

Thy private feasting to a public fast,

Thy smoothing titles to a ragged name,

Thy sugar’d tongue

to bitter WORMWOOD taste.

—Lucrece

HAMLET

[aside] WORMWOOD, WORMWOOD.

—Hamlet [Act III, sc. 2]

ROSALINE

To weed this WORMWOOD

from your fruitful brain.

—Love’s Labour’s Lost [Act V, sc. 2]