Meaning:
It express the idea that we have reached the depth of our unhappiness and
that better times are ahead.
Background:
`Now is the winter of our discontent', is the first line of Shakespeare's
Richard III, 1594. It needs to be read together with the second line of the
play `made glorious summer by this sun of York'. Shakespeare was using the
summer/winter weather as a metaphor for the fortunes of the English House of
York and its rivalry with the Plantagenets for the English throne. The `sun
of York' wasn't of course a comment on Yorkshire weather but on the `son of
York' Edward IV.
So, what Richard is saying is that we are now at the depth of the winter but
the son of York (Edward) is like the sun of Summer and good times are on the
way.
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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Richard III sounded more upbeat than the legendary old man who lost a horse.
Centuries later, Jocko Willink, of the Battle of Ramadi (Iraq War) fame,
summarizes his personal philosophy in one word, "Good."
