by Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599)

Now is my Love all ready forth to come
Language: English 
Now is my Love all ready forth to come: 
Let all the virgins therefore well awayt,
And ye fresh boyes, that tend upon her groome,
Prepare your selves, for he is comming strayt.
Set all your things in seemely good aray,
Fit for so ioyfull day, 
The ioyfulst day that ever sunne did see.
Fair Sun! shew forth thy favourable ray,
And let thy lifull heat not fervent be,
For feare of burning her sunshyny face,
Her beauty to disgrace. 
O fayrest Phoebus! Father of the Muse!
If ever I did honour thee aright,
Or sing the thing that mote thy mind delight,
Doe not thy servants simple boone refuse,
But let this day, let this one day, be mine; 
Let all the rest be thine.
Then I thy soverayne prayses loud wil sing,
That all the woods shal answer, and theyr eccho ring.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   R. Vaughan Williams 

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume V, edited by Francis J. Child, London: Imprinted for William Ponsonbie, dwelling in Paules Churchyard at the Signe of the Bishops Head, 1591.

Note from text:
Lifull, life-full.

Text as set by Vaughan Williams: 

Then I thy sovereign praises loud will sing,
That all the woods shall answer and their echo ring.


Text Authorship:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

    [ None yet in the database ]


The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, [adaptation] ; composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

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

This text was added to the website: 2020-01-11
Line count: 19
Word count: 144