by John Clare (1793 - 1864)
The lark he rises early
Language: English
The lark he rises early & the ploughman goes away Before its morning fairly At the guessing brake of day The fields lie in the dawning & the valies hid in gold At the pleasant time of morning When the shepherd goes to fold The maiden laughs and hollos When she sees the feeding cows They switch their tales & follow Where she cant get over sloughs I love the gentle dawning & the valies hid in gold At the pleasant time of morning When the shepherd goes to fold
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with John Clare. Poems of the Middle Period: 1822-1837, Oxford University Press, 2003, pages 254-255.
Stephens uses standard modern spelling: brake -> break ;
valies -> valley's; tales -> tails
Text Authorship:
- by John Clare (1793 - 1864), no title [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 Ian Stephens (b. 1974), "Break of day", 2012. [bass, flute, piano] [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2014-03-07
Line count: 16
Word count: 90