by John Keats (1795 - 1821)
Happy is England! I could be content
Language: English
Happy is England! I could be content
To see no other verdure than its own;
To feel no other breezes than are blown
Through its tall woods with high romances blent:
Yet do I sometimes feel a languishment
For skies Italian, and an inward groan
To sit upon an Alp as on a throne,
And half forget what world or worldling meant.
Happy is England, sweet her artless daughters;
Enough their simple loveliness for me,
Enough their whitest arms in silence clinging:
Yet do I often warmly burn to see
Beauties of deeper glance, and hear their singing,
And float with them about the summer waters.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by John Keats (1795 - 1821), no title, appears in Poems, first published 1817 [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 Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Happy is England!", published 1955. [TTBB chorus a cappella] [ sung text not verified ]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-02-13
Line count: 14
Word count: 106