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by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892)

Sweet Emma Moreland of yonder town
Language: English 
Sweet Emma Moreland of yonder town
Met me walking on yonder way,
"And have you lost your heart?" she said;
"And are you married yet, Edward Gray?"
Sweet Emma Moreland spoke to me:
Bitterly weeping I turned away:
"Sweet Emma Moreland, love no more
Can touch the heart of Edward Gray.

"Ellen Adair, she loved me well,
Against her father's and mother's will:
Today I sat for an hour and wept,
By Ellen's grave, on the windy hill.
Shy she was, and I thought her cold;
Thought her proud, and fled over the sea;
Fill'd I was with folly and spite,
When Ellen Adair was dying for me.

"Cruel, cruel the words I said!
Cruelly came they back today:
'You're too slight and fickle,' I said,
'To trouble the heart of Edward Gray.'
There I put my face in the grass
Whisper'd, 'Listen to my despair:
I repent me of all I did:
Speak a little, speak a little,
Ellen Adair!'

"Then I took a pencil and wrote
On the mossy stone as I lay,
'Here lies the body of Ellen Adair;
And here the heart of Edward Gray!'

Love may come and love may go,
And fly, like a bird, from tree to tree:
But I will love no more, no more,
Till Ellen Adair come back to me.
"Bitterly wept I over the stone:
Bitterly weeping I turned away:
There lies the body of Ellen Adair;
And there the heart of Edward Gray!"

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), "Edward Gray", appears in Poems, Volume II, first published 1842 [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 Lear (1812 - 1888), "Edward Gray", published 1853 [ voice and piano ], from Poems and Songs by Alfred Tennyson, London: Cramer, Beale & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
  • by George Alexander MacFarren (1813 - 1887), "Ellen Adair", published 1852 [ voice and piano ], London: Addison & Hollier; note: the sung text begins with stanza 2 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Herbert Stanley Oakeley (1830 - 1903), "Edward Gray", op. 12 no. 2, published <<1876 [ tenor or baritone and piano ], London: Cock [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Arthur Sullivan, Sir (1842 - 1900), "Edward Gray", published 1880 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Ernst Eckstein (1845 - 1900) , "Edward Gray", appears in In Moll und Dur, in 3. Dritte Abtheilung ; composed by Hans August Friedrich Zincke genannt Sommer.
      • Go to the text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-02-27
Line count: 37
Word count: 245

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