{"id":70686,"date":"2014-05-02T16:01:21","date_gmt":"2014-05-02T20:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=70686"},"modified":"2014-05-02T16:08:44","modified_gmt":"2014-05-02T20:08:44","slug":"so-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/","title":{"rendered":"So Green"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Semik_crop\"<\/a>

Semik<\/i>, a Russian lubok from the nineteenth century.<\/p><\/div>\n

You never really get over secret childish chauvinism about your birthday month. At least, I never did. In my mind, May will always be the best month of the year; emerald, the best birthstone; and lily-of-the-valley, the finest flower. (On the subject of Taurus, I am agnostic; I have always resented the fact that we are supposed to be stubbornly rolling around in velvet or something.)<\/p>\n

Because my own birthday falls so early in the month, and because I was definitely on the \u201cpreciousness\u201d spectrum, my eighth birthday had a May Day theme. I knew little of the day\u2019s ancient roots or traditional practices, let alone its adoption by the labor movement. But I had a Tasha Tudor book called Around the Year<\/em> that featured young girls, flower garlands, and a beribboned maypole, and I was sold.<\/p>\n

For my\u00a0birthday, we gathered flowers, made May baskets, and left them on neighbors\u2019 doorsteps while we hid nearby. They must have been very confused. Although my parties were generally homespun affairs, on this occasion my mom hired a gentleman in Renaissance dress who played a hurdy-gurdy while we danced around a maypole that a friend\u2019s dad had constructed from a birch trunk. We were all terrified of the hurdy-gurdy man, and kept our distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Merry Month of May\u201d was written in 1599 by the prolific playwright and pamphleteer Thomas Dekker. Dekker was widely considered a wastrel and a hack\u2014Ben Jonson dismissively called him a \u201cdresser of plays about town\u201d\u2014and he spent seven years in debtors\u2019 prison. But his pastoral is one of the most enduring paeans to the fifth month. Somehow I doubt it was in the hurdy-gurdy man\u2019s repertoire. <\/p>\n

\n

O, the month of May, the merry month of May,<\/i>
\nSo frolic, so gay, and so green, so green, so green!<\/i>
\nO, and then did I unto my true love say,<\/i>
\nSweet Peg, thou shalt be my Summer\u2019s Queen.<\/i><\/p>\n

Now the nightingale, the pretty nightingale,<\/i>
\nThe sweetest singer in all the forest quire,<\/i>
\nEntreats thee, sweet Peggy, to hear thy true love\u2019s tale:<\/i>
\nLo, yonder she sitteth, her breast against a brier.<\/i><\/p>\n

But O, I spy the cuckoo, the cuckoo, the cuckoo;<\/i>
\nSee where she sitteth; come away, my joy:<\/i>
\nCome away, I prithee, I do not like the cuckoo<\/i>
\nShould sing where my Peggy and I kiss and toy.<\/i><\/p>\n

O, the month of May, the merry month of May,<\/i>
\nSo frolic, so gay, and so green, so green, so green;<\/i>
\nAnd then did I unto my true love say,<\/i>
\nSweet Peg, thou shalt be my Summer\u2019s Queen.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You never really get over secret childish chauvinism about your birthday month. At least, I never did. In my mind, May will always be the best month of the year; emerald, the best birthstone; and lily-of-the-valley, the finest flower. (On the subject of Taurus, I am agnostic; I have always resented the fact that we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[9158,13772,13774,7335,450,13773],"class_list":["post-70686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-birthdays","tag-hurdy-gurdy","tag-may","tag-may-day","tag-parties","tag-thomas-dekker"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMay Will Always Be the Best Month of the Year<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sadie Stein on May Day-themed birthdays and Thomas Dekker\u2019s poem \u201cThe Merry Month of May.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"So Green by Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"May 2, 2014 \u2013 You never really get over secret childish chauvinism about your birthday month. At least, I never did. In my mind, May will always be the best month of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-02T20:01:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-02T20:08:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/semik_crop.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1222\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"772\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sadie Stein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sadie Stein\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9\"},\"headline\":\"So Green\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-02T20:01:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-02T20:08:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/\"},\"wordCount\":452,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/semik_crop-1024x646.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"birthdays\",\"hurdy gurdy\",\"May\",\"May Day\",\"parties\",\"Thomas Dekker\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Our Daily Correspondent\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/\",\"name\":\"May Will Always Be the Best Month of the Year\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/semik_crop-1024x646.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-02T20:01:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-02T20:08:44+00:00\",\"description\":\"Sadie Stein on May Day-themed birthdays and Thomas Dekker\u2019s poem \u201cThe Merry Month of May.\u201d\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/semik_crop.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/semik_crop.jpg\",\"width\":1222,\"height\":772},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"So Green\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9\",\"name\":\"Sadie Stein\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sadie Stein\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/sstein\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"May Will Always Be the Best Month of the Year","description":"Sadie Stein on May Day-themed birthdays and Thomas Dekker\u2019s poem \u201cThe Merry Month of May.\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"So Green by Sadie Stein","og_description":"May 2, 2014 \u2013 You never really get over secret childish chauvinism about your birthday month. At least, I never did. In my mind, May will always be the best month of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2014-05-02T20:01:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-05-02T20:08:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1222,"height":772,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/semik_crop.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sadie Stein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sadie Stein","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/"},"author":{"name":"Sadie Stein","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9"},"headline":"So Green","datePublished":"2014-05-02T20:01:21+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-02T20:08:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/"},"wordCount":452,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/semik_crop-1024x646.jpg","keywords":["birthdays","hurdy gurdy","May","May Day","parties","Thomas Dekker"],"articleSection":["Our Daily Correspondent"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/","name":"May Will Always Be the Best Month of the Year","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/semik_crop-1024x646.jpg","datePublished":"2014-05-02T20:01:21+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-02T20:08:44+00:00","description":"Sadie Stein on May Day-themed birthdays and Thomas Dekker\u2019s poem \u201cThe Merry Month of May.\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/semik_crop.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/semik_crop.jpg","width":1222,"height":772},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/so-green\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"So Green"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9","name":"Sadie Stein","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sadie Stein"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/sstein\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70686"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70728,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70686\/revisions\/70728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}