by Edith Sitwell (1887 - 1964)
Came the great Popinjay
Language: English
Came the great Popinjay Smelling his nosegay: In cages like grots, The bird sang gavottes. "Herodiade's flea Was named sweet Amanda. She danced like a lady From here to Uganda. Oh, what a dance was there! Long-haired, the candle Salome-like tossed her hair To a dance tune by Handel"... Dance they still? Then came Courtier Death Blew out the candle flame With civet breath.
Text Authorship:
- by Edith Sitwell (1887 - 1964), appears in Façade, first published 1922 [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 William Walton (1902 - 1983), "Came the great Popinjay", from Façade [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Dan Eggleston
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 64