Shakespeare! (Poem Analysis)

William Shakespeare's work is exactly what I'm looking for. I've been researching through his short poems to find something that speaks to me, that suits my aesthetic and generally is easy to understand...

The poems that my friend had recommended were the Fairy Land series. I really like the initial connotations that come from them and the give good creative freedom. My favourite is probably Fairy Land ii.

Fairy Land ii

YOU spotted snakes with double tongue,
   Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;
Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong;
   Come not near our fairy queen.

   Philomel, with melody,
   Sing in our sweet lullaby;
   Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby!
   Never harm,
   Nor spell nor charm,
   Come our lovely lady nigh;
   So, good night, with lullaby.

Weaving spiders, come not here;
   Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence!
Beetles black, approach not near;
   Worm nor snail, do no offence.

   Philomel, with melody,
   Sing in our sweet lullaby;
   Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby!
   Never harm,
   Nor spell nor charm,
   Come our lovely lady nigh;
   So, good night, with lullaby. 

William Shakespeare

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/fairy-land-ii/

The title of the poem itself is cool and I'm automatically drawn to the idea of something surreal. The scope to design a fairy character is good and from there I can begin to design the backgrounds. This poem is more suited to my idea for the art style 1.

The blocky shapes and thick outlines could really suit the designs for dark animals and hedgehogs/spiders etc. 

The parts of the poem that stand out most are;

"YOU spotted snakes with double tongue, "

          Immediately the first line of the poem sets the mood for the environment. The work 'YOU' is all capitals is aggressive and could bring forth dark connotations. The word 'spotted' keeps the mood light as I feel it's associated with fun and children; such as polkadots etc. However the dark theme is reinforced by the last words 'double tongue'. To me these are sharp words and help reinforce the aesthetic I want to look for. 

          Overall the art that i could create would be good practice and really benefit my style development. Snakes are an animal that I have wanted to create for a while and would suit my designs. 

"Sing in our sweet lullaby; Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby! "

          These lines gave me an idea for the mechanic in my game. The idea revolves around creating a day/night time style scene. The idea would be that the character could change the scene from night to day by way of a spell or something. This would help make the character an important part of the environment and benefit my strong points. 

          Sing in our sweet lullaby made me think of singing mountains or something along those lines. It would be a nice touch have an animated environment where perhaps animals begin to sing during the day and sleep at night. Again I must consider my limitations with regard to coding however I'll try my best to express idea I'm not able to code.

"Nor spell nor charm"

          This again reinforces what I was saying about the previous lines whereby the character could cast a spell to affect the environment. Dynamic environments create a good sense of atmosphere and help the flow of the gameplay. 

"So, good night, with lullaby."

          For the same reasons as before. Everything is influencing my idea/story toward a dream like environment. It would perhaps be set in the clouds to give it a sort of dreamy sense. I'm not sure whether jumping on some clouds would be enough as coding them to disappear etc would be difficult. 

          Jumping around on flying platforms could be cool. To incorporate the darker aesthetic seen throughout the poem, I think I should create a contrasting second part. Some sort of dark cave would be cool. This is where the darker creatures could come into play and a large snake could dwell there. This would also help to enforce the exploration type feel to the game.

"Come not near our fairy queen."

          Linking to the title, this line helped me decide to create some sort of fairy character to include in game. The mechanic could revolve around helping a fairy character through the environment or using her as a light source. She could follow you, helping to change the environment from night to day or cast spells in order to show hidden paths. 

"Come our lovely lady nigh;"

          The word 'nigh' meaning 'here' gave me the idea that you have to save the fairy character from some sort of dark characters. However i think that my coding abilities will restrict this. I could perhaps look at making them collectable so you have to find them. It would help the exploration theme to the game .

          I'm going to start putting together some designs for the character which will help me design the environment.