by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)
Sweet cyder is a great thing
Language: English
Sweet cyder is a great thing, A great thing to me, Spinning down to Weymouth town By Ridgway thirstily, And maid and mistress summoning Who tend the hostelry: O cyder is a great thing, A great thing to me! The dance it is a great thing, A great thing to me, With candles lit and partners fit For night-long revelry. And going home when day-dawning Peeps pale upon the lea: O dancing is a great thing, A great thing to me! Love is, yea, a great thing, A great thing to me, When, having drawn across the lawn In darkness silently, A figure flits like one a-wing Out from the nearest tree: O love is, yes, a great thing, [A great thing to me!]1 Will these be always great things [Great]2 things to me? . . . Let it befall that One will call, "Soul, I have need of thee": What then? Joy-jaunts, impassioned flings, Love, and its ecstasy Will always have been great things, [Great things]3 to me!
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Ireland: "Aye, greatest thing to me!"
2 Ireland: "Greatest"
3 Ireland: "Greatest things"; Steele: "A great thing"
Authorship:
- by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), "Great things", appears in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses, first published 1917 [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 Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956), "Great things", c1920, unfinished [sung text not yet checked]
- by John (Nicholson) Ireland (1879 - 1962), "Great things", 1925, published 1935 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Douglas Steele (1910 - 1999), "Sweet cyder" [ voice and piano ], Manchester, Forsyth Publications [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 169