Bees, mead and one of Shakespeare’s sweetest symbols
Celebrated every year on 20 May, World Bee Day honours one of nature’s smallest yet most fascinating creatures.
Bees give us flowers, fruit and honey, but they also played an important role in the world of William Shakespeare.
In Elizabethan England, bees were everywhere. They filled gardens and orchards, produced honey for cooking and inspired writers, artists and thinkers of the time.
For Shakespeare and his contemporaries, bees symbolised hard work, order, community and creativity. These ideas can still be found throughout Shakespeare’s plays and continue to inspire the world of Shakespeare’s Globe today.
Why bees were so important in Shakespeare’s time
Long before sugar became widely affordable, honey was one of the main ways people sweetened food and drink in England. Beeswax was also highly valuable. It was used to make candles, remedies and many everyday household items. Many families even kept their own beehives. Bees were therefore an important part of daily life, and people closely observed how they lived and worked together. The beehive became a symbol of the ideal society: organised, productive, loyal and harmonious.
These ideas fascinated Shakespeare, who often used animals in his plays to reflect human behaviour.
Bees in Henry V
One of Shakespeare’s most famous references to bees appears in Henry V.
In the play, Shakespeare compares human society to a busy beehive where every bee has an important role to play:
"For so work the honey bees…"
To audiences at the time, bees represented teamwork, order and cooperation. Shakespeare describes a society where everyone contributes to building something greater together.
More than 400 years later, that idea still resonates today. At Shakespeare’s Globe, bees continue to inspire us through our “To Bee or Not to Be” collection, a playful nod to the famous line from Hamlet. This cute bumble bee is adapted from an original print by local artist, Rowan Tree Design.
Featuring Shakespeare-inspired wordplay and bee illustrations, the collection has become one of our favourites. Notebooks, tote bags, accessories and thoughtful gifts celebrate literature, humour and nature all at once.
Bee inspired gifts
Among our bee-inspired products, the Bee Revival Keyring offers a unique way to celebrate World Bee Day while helping nature.
This keyring contains specially formulated bee food syrup designed to help exhausted bees when there are no flowers nearby. It also includes a bee identification tag with a QR code to help identify different bee species.
The product also echoes one of Shakespeare’s best-loved bee quotes:
“Where the bee sucks, there suck I”
A beautiful way to connect literature, nature and a small everyday act of care.
The sweet history of Mead
Bees did not only inspire writers. They also shaped what people ate and drank.
Mead, made from fermented honey and water, is one of the oldest alcoholic drinks in the world. Archaeological evidence even suggests it may be older than both beer and wine.
Popular across Europe for centuries, mead was enjoyed by Vikings, Tudors and even Queen Elizabeth I herself. At a time when drinking water was not always safe, mead was considered both flavourful and more reliable to drink.
Mead was also linked to celebration and fertility. In fact, the word “honeymoon” is believed to come from the tradition of drinking mead during wedding celebrations.
Today, our Traditional Mead continues that story. Crafted with Hive Mind in the beautiful Wye Valley in Wales, it is made with honey, water, and yeast, inspired by traditional methods.
Each season brings different flavours to the honey used in our mead, creating floral, fruity and richer notes depending on the harvest.
Its illustrated label, inspired by Tudor London and the Globe Theatre beneath a starry sky, also celebrates the connection between history, craftsmanship and storytelling.
If you would like to discover more about how our mead is made, from hive to bottle, you can read our dedicated blog about the history and making of our Traditional Mead.
Why bees still inspire us
For centuries, bees have inspired writers, artists and storytellers.
They symbolise creativity, community, resilience and the idea that even the smallest creatures can make a great impact.
At Shakespeare’s Globe, bees create a beautiful connection between nature, history and literature. From Shakespeare’s words to our bee-inspired collections, they continue to keep this legacy alive in joyful and creative ways.
This World Bee Day, discover our Shakespeare-inspired gifts, our “To Bee or Not to Be” collection, our Bee Revival Keyring and our Traditional Mead to celebrate the world of bees through theatre, history and storytelling.
