by Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599)
Sonnet LXXVIII
Language: English
Lacking my love, I go from place to place, Like a young fawn, that late hath lost the hind; And seek each where, where last I saw her face, Whose image yet I carry fresh in mind. I seek the fields with her late footing signed; I seek her bower with her late presence deck’d; Yet nor in field nor bower I her can find; Yet field and bower are full of her aspect: But, when mine eyes I thereunto direct, They idly back return to me again: And, when I hope to see their true object, I find myself but fed with fancies vain. Cease then, mine eyes, to seek herself to see; And let my thoughts behold herself in me.
Text Authorship:
- by Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599), "Sonnet LXXVIII", appears in Amoretti and Epithalamion [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 Edmund Duncan Rubbra (1901 - 1986), "Sonnet LXXVIII", op. 43 no. 1 (1935), published 1942 [ tenor and string quartet ], from Amoretti: Five Sonnets (Second Series), no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2022-01-31
Line count: 14
Word count: 122