How sweet I roam'd from field to field, And tasted all the summer's pride, 'Till I the prince of love beheld, Who in the sunny beams did glide! He shew'd me lilies for my hair, And blushing roses for my brow; He led me through his gardens fair, Where all his golden pleasures grow. With sweet May dews my wings were wet, And Phoebus fir'd my vocal rage; He caught me in his silken net, And shut me in his golden cage. He loves to sit and hear me sing, Then, laughing, sports and plays with me; Then stretches out my golden wing, And mocks my loss of liberty.
Blake Songs
Song Cycle by Paul Schwartz (1907 - 1999)
1. How sweet I roam'd from field to field  [sung text not yet checked]
Text Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Song: How sweet I roam'd from field to field", appears in Poetical Sketches, first published 1783
See other settings of this text.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. A cradle song  [sung text not yet checked]
Sweet dreams, form a shade [O'er]1 my lovely infant's head, Sweet dreams of pleasant streams, By happy, silent, moony beams. Sweet Sleep, with soft down Weave thy brows an infant crown; Sweet Sleep, angel mild, Hover o'er my happy child. Sweet smiles, in the night Hover over my delight. Sweet smiles, mother's [smiles]2, All the livelong night [beguiles]3. Sweet moans, dovelike sighs, Chase not slumber from [thy]4 eyes! Sweet [moans]5, sweeter [smiles]2, All the dovelike moans [beguiles]3. Sleep, sleep, happy child: All creation slept and smiled. Sleep, sleep, happy sleep, While o'er thee [thy]6 mother weep. Sweet babe, in thy face Holy image I can trace; Sweet babe, once like thee Thy maker lay and wept for me, Wept for me, for thee, for all, When he was an infant small. Thou his image ever see, Heavenly face that smiles on thee -- Smiles on thee, on me, on all, Who became an infant small, Infant smiles are his own smiles; Heaven and earth to peace beguiles.
Text Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "A Cradle Song", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 11, first published 1789
See other settings of this text.
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Blake: The Complete Poems, ed. by W. H. Stevenson, Third Edition, Routledge, 2007, pages 61-62.
1 Carmichael: "Round"2 Baxter, Moore, Thomas: "smile"
3 Baxter, Moore, Thomas: "beguile"
4 Baxter, Carmichael, Moore, Thomas: "thine"
5 Baxter, Carmichael, Moore, Thomas: "moans"
6 Baxter: "doth"
Researcher for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
3. Song from An Island in the Moon
— This text is not currently
in the database but will be added
as soon as we obtain it. —
Text Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), appears in An Island in the Moon
Go to the general single-text view
4. To the Muses  [sung text not yet checked]
Whether on Ida's shady brow, Or in the chambers of the East, The chambers of the sun, that now From ancient melody have ceas'd; Whether in Heav'n ye wander fair, Or the green corners of the earth, Or the blue regions of the air, Where the melodious winds have birth; Whether on crystal rocks ye rove, Beneath the bosom of the sea Wand'ring in many a coral grove, Fair Nine, forsaking Poetry! How have you left the ancient love That bards of old enjoy'd in you! The languid strings do scarcely move! The sound is forc'd, the notes are few!
Text Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827)
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "К Музам", copyright © 1981, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
5. Cupid  [sung text not yet checked]
Why was Cupid a boy, And why a boy was he ? He should have been a girl, For aught that I can see. For he shoots with his bow, And a girl shoots with her eye; And they both are merry and glad And laugh when we do cry. And to make Cupid a boy Was surely a woman's plan, For a boy never learns to mock Till he has become a man : And then he is so pierced through And wounded with arrowy smarts, That the whole business of his life Is to pick out the heads of the darts.
Text Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Cupid"
See other settings of this text.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]6. The voice of the Bard  [sung text not yet checked]
Hear the voice of the Bard! Who Present, Past, and Future see; Whose ears have heard the Holy Word That walked among the ancient trees, Calling the lapsed Soul And weeping in the evening dew That might control the starry pole, And fallen, fallen light renew! "O earth, O earth, return! Arise from out the dewy grass; Night is worn, and [the morn]1 rises from the slumbering mass. "Turn away no more; Why wilt thou turn away? The starry floor, the watery shore, Is given thee till break of day."
Text Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Introduction", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 1, first published 1794
See other settings of this text.
View original text (without footnotes)1 Mitchell: "morning"
Researcher for this page: Victoria Brago