Both Uses of
lament
in
A Midsummer Night's Dream
- QUINCE Marry, our play is—The most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby.†
Scene 1.2 *lamentable = regrettablestandard suffix: The suffix "-able" means able to be. This is the same pattern you see in words like breakable, understandable, and comfortable.
- The moon, methinks, looks with a watery eye; And when she weeps, weeps every little flower; Lamenting some enforc'd chastity.†
Scene 3.1lamenting = expressing grief or regret
Definitions:
-
(1)
(lament) to express grief or regret
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Although lament typically refers to a feeling or simple vocal expression, it can refer to a vocal expression as complex as a sad song or poem. It can even refer to sad, but non-vocal music -- as when Tennessee Williams references background music in A Streetcar Named Desire.