A Song of Enchantment I sang me there, In a green-green wood, by waters fair, Just as the words came up to me I sang it under the wild wood tree. Widdershins turned I, singing it low, Watching the wild birds come and go; No cloud in the deep dark blue to be seen Under the thick-thatched branches green. Twilight came; silence came; The planet of Evening's silver flame; By darkening paths I wandered through Thickets trembling with drops of dew. But the music is lost and the words are gone Of the song I sang as I sat alone, Ages and ages have fallen on me - On the wood and the pool and the elder tree.
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Confirmed with Peacock Pie. A Book of Rhymes by Walter de la Mare, London: Constable & Co. Ltd., [1920], p. 171.
Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "A Song of Enchantment", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 8. Songs, no. 4, first published 1913 [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 Ina Boyle (1889 - 1967), "A Song of Enchantment", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "A Song of Enchantment", published 1969 [ voice and piano ], from Tit for tat, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Victor Edward Galway , "A Song of Enchantment", published 1939 [ 2-part chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Una cançó d’encanteri ", copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Un chant d'enchantement", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Harald Krebs) , "Ein Lied der Verzauberung", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Ein verwunschenes Lied", copyright © 2013, (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: 16
Word count: 118