Ophelia me; we may call it herb of grace o' Sundays; O, you must wear your rue with a difference". Rue is well known for its symbolic meaning of regret, but the herb is also used to treat pain, bruises and has abortive qualities. In Act 4 Scene 7, Queen Gertrude reports that Ophelia had climbed into a willow tree ("There is a willow grows aslant the brook"), and that the branch had broken and dropped Ophelia into the brook, where she drowned. Gertrude says that Ophelia appeared "incapable of her own distress". Gertrude's announcement of Ophelia's death has been praised
Oh Dear! What Can the Matter Be? me a twopenny whistle He'll buy me a threepenny fair He'll buy me a Bunch o' Blue Ribbons To tye up my bonny Brown Hair O saw ye him coming And saw ye him coming O saw ye him coming Hame frae the Newcastle fair </poem> The following are given as the traditional lyrics (being chorus and verse) in Cuddon's and Preston's "A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory": <poem> O dear, what can the matter be? Dear, dear, what can the matter be? O dear, what can the matter be? Johnny's so long at the fair. He promised