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]1 will I get Spring's first sunbeams do unseal, Primrose, cowslip, violet: - Charmer, leave thy spinning wheel, And tend the [sheep]2 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]3 molehill forms a seat: Fear not suns 'cause thou'rt so fair, In the [thorn-bower]4 we'll conceal; Ne'er a sunbeam pierces there: - Charmer, leave thy spinning wheel, And tend the [sheep]2 with me.
W. Bennett sets stanzas 1-2, 4
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Bennett: "flow'r-buds"
2 Bennett: "flocks"
3 Bennett: "Ev'ry"
4 Bennett: "thorn-bow'r"
Authorship:
- 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