by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892)
On either side the river lie
Language: English
Available translation(s): FRE
On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And thro' the field the road runs by
To many-tower'd Camelot;
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott.
Willows whiten, aspens quiver,
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Thro' the wave that runs for ever
By the island in the river
Flowing down to Camelot.
Four gray walls, and four gray towers,
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle imbowers
The Lady of Shalott.
By the margin, willow-veil'd,
Slide the heavy barges trail'd
By slow horses; and unhail'd
The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd
Skimming down to Camelot:
But who hath seen her wave her hand?
Or at the casement seen her stand?
Or is she known in all the land,
The Lady of Shalott?
Only reapers, reaping early
In among the bearded barley,
Hear a song that echoes cheerly
From the river winding clearly,
Down to tower'd Camelot:
And by the moon the reaper weary,
Piling sheaves in uplands airy,
Listening, whispers ''Tis the fairy
Lady of Shalott.'
D. Holman sets stanzas 1-2
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir. The Oxford Book of English Verse. Oxford: Clarendon, 1919, [c1901]; Bartleby.com, 1999. www.bartleby.com/101/700.html.
Authorship
- by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), no title, appears in The Lady of Shalott, no. 1 [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 Wilfred Ellington Bendall (1850 - 1920), "On either side the river lie", published 1884 [soprano, SSA chorus, orchestra], from the cantata The Lady of Shalott, no. 1, London, Novello [text not verified]
- by Carl Reinhold Busch (1862 - 1943), "On either side the river lie", published 1894 [soprano, mixed chorus, orchestra], from the cantata The Lady of Shalott, no. 1, Boston, White-Smith [text not verified]
- by Christopher Montague Edmunds (1899 - 1990), "On either side the river lie", published 1926 [SA chorus, orchestra], from the cantata The Lady of Shalott, no. 1, London, Stainer & Bell [text not verified]
- by Derek Holman (b. 1931), "Towered Camelot", 2009, first performed 2009, stanzas 1-2 [voice and piano], from The Four Seasons, no. 7. [text verified 1 time]
- by Maurice Jacobson (1896 - 1976), "On either side the river lie", published 1942 [tenor, SATB chorus, orchestra], from the cantata The Lady of Shalott, no. 1, London, Curwen [text not verified]
- by Phyllis Margaret Duncan Tate (1911 - 1987), "On either side the river lie", 1956 [tenor, viola, percussion, 2 pianos, cello], from the cantata The Lady of Shalott, no. 1, London, Oxford University Press [text not verified]
This text (or a part of it) is used in a work
- by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889 - 1960), "The Lady of Shalott", published 1929 [mezzo-soprano, SA chorus, piano, optional strings], London, Curwen.
- by Cyril Bradley Rootham (1875 - 1938), "The Lady of Shalott", 1909-10. [mezzo-soprano, SATB chorus, orchestra].
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , title unknown, copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2015-02-19
Line count: 36
Word count: 193