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All Site ContentMidsummer Night's DreamAct 3Scene 2
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“high Taurus’ snow”
Language
Act 3,
Scene 2
Lines 137-144

An explanation of the reference to “Taurus’ snow” in Act 3, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s A Midsummer Nights’ Dream.

Demetrius

O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?
Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show
Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!
That pure congealèd white, high Taurus’ snow
Fanned with the eastern wind, turns to a crow
When thou hold'st up thy hand. O, let me kiss
This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss!

Helena's hand is so beautifully white that it would make the snow-capped Taurus mountains in Turkey seem as black as a crow.