If she be made of white and red

Language: English

Available translation(s): FRE

If she be made of white and red,
Her faults will ne'er be known,
For blushing cheeks by faults are bred
And fears by pale white shown:
Then if she fear, or be to blame,
By this you shall not know,
For still her cheeks possess the same
Which native she doth owe. 
A dangerous rhyme, master, against the reason of
white and red.

Authorship:

by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), appears in Love's Labour's Lost, Act I, Scene 2. [author's text not yet checked 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 Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956), "If she be made of white and red", op. 28a no. 3 (1946-7) [voice, small orchestra], from Four Songs from Love's Labours Lost, no. 3. [
text verified 1 time
]

Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 10
Word count: 64