The little boy lost | ``Father! father! where are you going?

``Father! father! where are you going?

Language: English

``Father! father! where are you going? 
O do not walk so fast. 
Speak, father, speak to your little boy, 
Or else I shall be lost.'' 

The night was dark, no father was there; 
The child was wet with dew; 
The mire was deep, & the child did weep, 
And away the vapour flew.

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship:

by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The little boy lost", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 8, first published 1789 [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 Bolcom (b. 1938), "The little boy lost", 1956-81 [ solo voices, chorus, orchestra ], from Songs of Innocence, no. 20 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Vincent Henry Palmer Caillard, Sir (1856 - 1930), "The little boy lost", published 1891 [ voice and piano ], from The Songs of Innocence of William Blake, no. 8, London : Novello, Ewer & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
by Norman Curtis (b. 1933), "The little boy lost", c1959 [ voice and piano ], from William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, no. 9 [sung text not yet checked]
by John Frandsen (b. 1956), "The little boy lost", 1984? [ soprano and guitar ], from Songs of Innocence II, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Ole Carsten Green (b. 1922), "The little boy lost", op. 27b no. 8 (1973) [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Innocence, no. 8 [sung text not yet checked]
by (Richard) Kenneth Haxton (b. 1919), "Little boy lost", 1962, first performed 1969 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Christian Victor Hely-Hutchinson (1901 - 1947), "The little boy lost", published c1928 [ SA chorus and piano? ], from Five Songs of Innocence, no. 5, London : Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]
by Gary Michael Higginson (b. 1952), "Little boy lost ", op. 55 no. 4 (1981-2) [ SATB chorus with divisions a cappella ], from Seven Songs of William Blake, Set II, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by Joseph Holbrooke (1878 - 1958), "Little boy lost", op. 130 no. 17 (1936), from Songs of Innocence, no. 17 [sung text not yet checked]
by Herbert Norman Howells (1892 - 1983), "The little boy lost", published 1928 [ voice and piano ], London : Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]
by (Thomas) Timothy Lenk (b. 1952), "The little boy lost", c1977 [ tenor, bass-baritone, flute (piccolo), clarinet, bass clarinet, and violin ], from Songs of Innocence and Experience, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by Douglas McGilvra (b. 1945), "The little boy lost", 1976-7, first performed 1978 [ soprano, three flutes, 2 pianos, and celesta ], from Blake Texts, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by Norman Houston O'Neill (1875 - 1934), "The little boy lost", c1896, first performed 1896 [ voice and piano ], from Drei Lieder, no. 2, also set in German [sung text not yet checked]
by Ellen Raskin (1928 - 1984), "The little boy lost", published 1966 [ voice and piano or guitar ], from Songs of Innocence, no. 8, Garden City, NY : Doubleday [sung text not yet checked]
by Allen Dwight Sapp (b. 1922), "The little boy lost", 1953 [ SATB chorus with optional orchestral accompaniment ], note: this may be the wrong text (Blake wrote two with this title) [sung text not yet checked]
by Russell Smith (b. 1927), "The little boy lost", 1949 [ medium voice and piano ], from Six Songs of Innocence, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by Ronald Stevenson (b. 1928), "The little boy lost", 1948-50, rev. 1965 [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Innocence, no. 8, another version exists for voice, flute, and string quintet (composed 1966-71) [sung text not yet checked]
by Alan Burrage Stout (b. 1932), "Little boy lost", 1958, published 1958 [ low voice and piano ], NY : American Composers Alliance [sung text not yet checked]
by Anthony Strilko (b. 1931), "The little boy lost", 1960? [ high voice and piano ], from Songs of Innocence, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
by David Evan Thomas (b. 1958), "Little boy lost", 2004 [ medium voice, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Raymond Wilding-White (b. 1922), "The little boy lost", published c1972 [ medium voice and piano ], from Four William Blake Songs, no. 2, NY : Highgate Press (Galaxy) [sung text not yet checked]
by William Brocklesby Wordsworth (1908 - 1988), "Little boy lost", op. 56 no. 2 (1953), published 1960 [ SATB chorus and piano ], from Childhood Visions, no. 2, London : A. Lengnick (Belwin-Mills) [sung text not yet checked]
by William Brocklesby Wordsworth (1908 - 1988), "Father! father! where are you going?", op. 46 no. 2 (1950) [ SSA chorus, strings, and piano ], from A Vision, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]

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

by Solomon Pimsleur (1900 - 1962), "Little boy lost, found", op. 11 no. 5 (1922), rev. 1930, from Songs of Innocence and Experience, no. 5
by Ken Neufeld , "The little boy lost - The little boy found", published c1979 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Three Songs of Innocence, no. 2, Fort Lauderdale, FL : Aberdeen Music (Plymouth Music Co.)
by John Austin Sykes (1909 - 1962), "The little boy lost and found", 1935-6, first performed 1975 [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Innocence, no. 7
by Rudolph T. Werther (1896 - 1986), "Little boy lost and found", 1960 [ voice and piano ], from Song Cycle : On Children, no. 4

Set in a modified version by Nicolas Flagello.

Go to the text. [ view differences ]

Researcher for this text: Ahmed E. Ismail

This text was added to the website: 2005-01-17
Line count: 8
Word count: 53