by Thomas Lodge (1558 - 1625)
Rosaline
Language: English
Like to the clear in highest sphere
Where all imperial glory shines,
Of self-same colour is her hair
Whether unfolded or in twines:
Heigh ho, fair Rosaline.
Her eyes are sapphires set in snow,
[Resembling]1 heav'n by ev'ry wink;
The gods do fear whenas they glow,
And I do tremble when I think:
Heigh ho, would she were mine!
Her cheeks are like the blushing cloud
That beautifies Aurora's face,
Or like the silver crimson shroud
That Phoebus' smiling looks doth grace:
Heigh ho, fair Rosaline!
Her lips are like two budded roses,
Whom ranks of lilies neighbour nigh,
Within [whose]2 bounds she balm encloses,
Apt to entice a deity:
Heigh ho, would she were mine!
Her neck like to a stately tower
Where Love himself imprison'd lies,
To watch for glances every hour
From her divine and sacred eyes:
Heigh ho, fair Rosaline!
Her paps are centres of delight,
Her breasts are orbs of heavenly frame,
Where Nature moulds the dew of light
To feed perfection with the same:
Heigh ho, would she were mine!
With orient pearl, with ruby red,
With marble white, with sapphire blue,
Her body every way is fed,
Yet soft [to]3 touch and sweet in view:
Heigh ho, fair Rosaline!
Nature herself her shape admires;
The gods are wounded in her sight;
And Love forsakes his heavenly fires
And at her eyes his brand doth light:
Heigh ho, would she were mine!
Then muse not, Nymphs, though I bemoan
The absence of fair Rosaline,
Since for [a]4 fair there 's fairer none,
Nor for her virtues so divine:
Heigh ho, fair Rosaline:
Heigh ho, my heart! would God that she were mine!
C. Parry sets stanzas 1-2, 5
E. Moeran sets stanzas 1-2, 4-5
1 Moeran, Parry: "Refining"
2 Moeran, Parry: "which"
3 Moeran: "in"
4 Moeran, Parry: "her"
Text Authorship:
- by Thomas Lodge (1558 - 1625), "Rosaline" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950), "Rosaline", R. 73 (1937), published 1937, stanzas 1-2,4-5 [ voice and piano ], Winthrop Rogers [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "Rosaline", published 1920, stanzas 1-2,5, from English Lyrics, Twelfth Set, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Richard Flatter) , "Rosalinde", appears in Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten, first published 1936
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 46
Word count: 282