by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892)
And in those days she made a little song
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Language: English
And in those days she made a little song, And called her song "The Song of Love and Death," And sang it: sweetly could she make and sing. Sweet is true love tho' giv'n in vain, in vain; And sweet is death that puts an end to pain: I know not which is sweeter, no, not I. Love, art thou sweet? then bitter death must be: Love, thou art bitter; sweet is death to me. O Love, if death be sweeter, let me die. Sweet love, that seems not made to fade away, Sweet death, that seems to make us loveless clay, I know not which is sweeter, no, not I. I fain would follow love, if that could be; I needs must follow death, who calls for me; Call and I follow, I follow! let me die.
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View text with all available footnotesNote: Many of the settings listed below probably use only the song itself, i.e., stanzas 2-5; Musical Settings of Early and Mid-Victorian Literature indicates that Papini and Mrs. Phillips include the first stanza as well in their settings.
Text Authorship:
- by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), "The song of Love and Death", appears in Idylls of the King, Elaine's song in "Elaine", first published 1859 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
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Researcher for this page: Peter Brixius
This text was added to the website: 2009-01-07
Line count: 15
Word count: 139