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by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 - 1889)

Spring
Language: English 
Nothing is so beautiful as Spring
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush's eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have their fling.

What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth's sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden. - Have, get, before it cloy,
Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid's child, thy choice and worthy the winning.

Text Authorship:

  • by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 - 1889), "Spring", appears in Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, first published 1918 [author's text not yet checked 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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Spring", 1999 [ soprano and piano ], from Four Songs of Gerard Manley Hopkins, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Roxanna Panufnik (b. 1968), "Spring", 1997, first performed 1997 [ chorus, organ or piano or orchestra ], from Four Choral Seasons, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "Spring" [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2007-05-07
Line count: 14
Word count: 124

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