by William Blake (1757 - 1827)
Why was Cupid a boy
Language: English
Why was Cupid a boy, And why a boy was he ? He should have been a girl, For aught that I can see. For he shoots with his bow, And a girl shoots with her eye; And they both are merry and glad And laugh when we do cry. And to make Cupid a boy Was surely a woman's plan, For a boy never learns to mock Till he has become a man : And then he is so pierced through And wounded with arrowy smarts, That the whole business of his life Is to pick out the heads of the darts.
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Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Cupid" [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 A. (Alfred or Arthur?) Herbert Brewer (1865 - 1928), "Cupid", published c1924 [ SA chorus ], London : E. Ashdown, in Edwin Ashdown's Series of Vocal Duets for Class Singing, 2nd series, no. 99 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Cecil S. Effinger (b. 1914), "Why was Cupid a boy?", 1955, published c1971 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Three Contemporary Madrigals, no. 3, New York : G. Schirmer [sung text not yet checked]
- by Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874 - 1949), "Cupid", op. 9 (Seven songs) no. 4 (1912) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John (Nicholson) Ireland (1879 - 1962), "Cupid", 1961, published c1961, first performed 1961 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], London: Augener & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Walter Byron Mourant (1910 - 1995), "Cupid", 1977 [ voice and harp ], from Two Songs, no. 2, NY : American Composers Alliance [sung text not yet checked]
- by Paul Schwartz (1907 - 1999), "Cupid", 196-? [ voice and piano ], from Blake Songs, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Maude Valérie White (1855 - 1937), "Why was Cupid a boy?", published c1899 [ medium voice and piano ], London : Metzler & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-01-29
Line count: 16
Word count: 103