by John Clare (1793 - 1864)
Winter's gone, the summer breezes
Language: English
Winter's gone, the summer breezes Breathe the shepherd's joys again, Village scene no longer pleases, Pleasures meet upon the plain; Snows are fled that hung the bowers, Buds to blossoms softly steal, Winter's rudeness melts in flowers: - Charmer, leave thy spinning wheel, And tend the sheep with me. Careless here shall pleasures lull thee, From domestic troubles free; Rushes for thy couch I'll pull thee, In the shade thy seat shall be; All the flower-buds will I get Spring's first sunbeams do unseal, Primrose, cowslip, violet: - Charmer, leave thy spinning wheel, And tend the sheep with me. Cast away thy "twilly willy," Winter's warm protecting gown, Storms no longer blow to chill thee; Come with mantle loosely thrown, Garments, light as gale's embraces, That thy lovely shape reveal; Put thou on thy airy dresses: - Charmer, leave thy spinning wheel, And tend the sheep with me. Sweet to sit where brooks are flowing, Pleasant spreads the gentle heat, On the green's lap thyme is growing, Every molehill forms a seat: Fear not suns 'cause thou'rt so fair, In the thorn-bower we'll conceal; Ne'er a sunbeam pierces there: - Charmer, leave thy spinning wheel, And tend the sheep with me.
W. Bennett sets stanzas 1-2, 4
About the headline (FAQ)
View text with all available footnotesAuthorship:
- by John Clare (1793 - 1864), "Ballad", appears in The Village Minstrel, and Other Poems, first published 1821 [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 William Sterndale Bennett (1816 - 1875), "Winter's gone", op. 36 (Sechs Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 2, published 1856, stanzas 1-2,4 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Kistner, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Alec Rowley (1892 - 1958), "Shepherd's Rondel", published 1935 [ SSA chorus and piano ], from Four Spring Idylls [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Karl Klingemann (1798 - 1862) ; composed by William Sterndale Bennett.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2004-05-07
Line count: 36
Word count: 201