Comment on the use and significance of the songs in the play As You Like It.

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Ans. There are more songs in As YoL Like It than in any other play by Shakespeare. The songs in As You Like It have a definite and tangible dramatic significance. Most of the songs are integral to the action of the play or, to the atmosphere of the play, or to both the
action and the atmosphere. The first song sung by Amiens beginning with "Under the greenwood tree" is an invitation to people to come and live in the natural surrounding, where the sweet bird sings tunefully, and there Is no enemy except winter and rough weather. The greenwood tree contributes to the setting of the play. It symbolizes the forest of Arden. This is a song in praise of pastoral or rural life. The second song "Blow, blow thou winter wind," is also sung by Amiens. In this song Amiens recognizes the cruelty of the icy winter
winds but points out that human ingratitude and the hypocrisy of human friendship are even more cruel than the cold wintry winds. Here the following two lines constitute the refrain or burden of the song.