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My love dwelt in a northern land [A tower dim]1 in a forest green Was his, and far away the sand, And gray wash of the waves [was]2 seen, The woven forest boughs between. And through the northern summer night The sunset slowly died away, And herds of strange deer, silver white, Came gleaming through the forest gray, And fled like ghosts before the day. And oft, that month, we watch'd the moon Wax great and white o'er wood and lawn, And wane, with waning of the June, Till, like a brand for battle drawn, She fell, and flamed in a wild dawn. I know not if the forest green Still girdles round that castle gray, I know not if, the boughs between, The white deer vanish ere the day. The grass above my love is green, [My]4 heart is colder than the clay.
H. Pasmore sets stanzas 1-2, 4
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotes1 Elgar: "A dim tower"
2 Elgar: "were"
4 Elgar, Pasmore: "His"
Text Authorship:
- by Andrew Lang (1844 - 1912), note: in Lang's version, the beloved is female. [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 Edward Elgar, Sir (1857 - 1934), "My love dwelt in a Northern land", 1889, published 1890 [ satb chorus ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Henry Bickford Pasmore (1857 - 1944), "A northern romance", stanzas 1-2,4 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "My Love Dwelt In A Northern Land", op. 466 (1956) [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Lidy van Noordenburg) , "Mijn liefste woonde in het noorden", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 21
Word count: 147
Mijn liefste woonde in het noorden Een vage toren in een groen bos Was de zijne. En ver weg kon je Het zand en de grijze golven zien Door het geboomte. En tijdens de noordelijke zomernacht Ging de zon heel langzaam onder. Er kwamen roedels vreemde herten, Zilverig wit, glimmend in het grijze woud En ze vluchtten als geesten vóór de dageraad. Die maand keken we vaak hoe de maan groot en wit waste over wei en woud En weer afnam in de loop van juni Totdat ze, als een strijdvuur, Vlammend onderging in een wild ochtendgloren. Ik weet niet of het groene woud Nog steeds het grijze kasteel omringt. Ik weet niet of het geboomte er nog is En of de witte herten vóór de dageraad verdwijnen. Het gras boven mijn liefste is groen. Zijn hart is koud, kouder dan de aarde.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to Dutch (Nederlands) copyright © 2008 by Lidy van Noordenburg, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
- a text in English by Andrew Lang (1844 - 1912), note: in Lang's version, the beloved is female.
This text was added to the website: 2008-02-23
Line count: 21
Word count: 143