by Anonymous / Unidentified Author and sometimes misattributed to William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
My flocks feed not
Language: English
My flocks feed not, My ewes breed not, My rams speed not, All is amiss: Love ’s denying, Faith ’s defying, Heart ’s renying, Causer of this. All my merry jigs are quite forgot, All my lady’s love is lost, God wot: Where her faith was firmly fix’d in love, There a nay is plac’d without remove. One silly cross Wrought all my loss; O! frowning Fortune, cursed, fickle dame; For now I see Inconstancy More in women than in men remain. In black mourn I, All fears scorn I, Love hath forlorn me, Living in thrall: Heart is bleeding, All help needing, O! cruel speeding, Fraughted with gall. My shepherd’s pipe can sound no deal, My wether’s bell rings doleful knell; My curtal dog, that wont to have play’d, Plays not at all, but seems afraid; My sighs so deep Procures to weep, In howling wise, to see my doleful plight. How sighs resound Through heartless ground, Like a thousand vanquish’d men in bloody fight! Clear well spring not, Sweet birds sing not, Green plants bring not Forth their dye; Herds stand weeping, Flocks all sleeping, Nymphs back peeping Fearfully: All our pleasure known to us poor swains, All our merry meetings on the plains, All our evening sport from us is fled, All our love is lost, for Love is dead. Farewell, sweet lass, Thy like ne’er was For a sweet content, the cause of all my moan: Poor Corydon Must live alone; Other help for him I see that there is none.
G. Allwright sets lines 1-12
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, ed. by W. J. Craig, London: Oxford University Press: 1914.
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, no title, appears in The Passionate Pilgrim, no. 17, appears in Sonnets to sundry notes of music, no. 3, first published 1599 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
- sometimes misattributed to William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Graeme Allwright , "My flocks feed not", published 1967, lines 1-12 [ low voice and piano ], Paris, Société Nouvelle [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-12-05
Line count: 54
Word count: 255