by Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599)

Language: English 
Ring ye the bells, ye young men of the Town,
And leave your wonted labours for this day.
This day is holy; Do ye write it down,
that ye for ever it remember may.
...
Ring ye the bells, to make it wear away,
And bonfires make all day,
And dance about them, and about them sing:
that all the woods may answer, and your echo ring.
…

Note from the original poem:
Barnaby the bright. The difference between the old and new style at the time this poem was written was ten days. The summer solstice therefore fell on St. Barnabas's day, the 11th of June. C.

Composition:

    Set to music by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "The bell ringers", 1957, published 1957 [ baritone, mixed chorus, orchestra ], from cantata Epithalamion, no. 7, London, Oxford University Press

Text Authorship:

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Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Gustav Ringel

This text was added to the website: 2020-01-11
Line count: 17
Word count: 135