The clod and the pebble | Love seeketh not itself to please

Love seeketh not itself to please

Language: English

Our translations: RUS

"Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair."

So sung a little Clod of Clay,
Trodden with the cattle's feet,
But a Pebble of the brook
Warbled out these metres meet:

"Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to its delight,
Joys in another's loss of ease,
And builds a Hell in Heaven's despite."

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Text Authorship:

by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The clod and the pebble", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 3, first published 1794 [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 Rodney Ash (b. 1931), "The clod and the pebble", 1972, from Songs of Experience, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by William Bolcom (b. 1938), "The clod and the pebble", 1956-81 [ solo voices, chorus, orchestra ], from Songs of Experience, Volume One, no. 11 [sung text not yet checked]
by James Austin Collignon (b. 1926), "The clod and the pebble", 1977 [ voice, piano ], from My Rhine Journey [sung text not yet checked]
by Norman Curtis (b. 1933), "The clod and the pebble", c1959 [ voice and piano ], from William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, no. 25 [sung text not yet checked]
by Ole Carsten Green (b. 1922), "The clod and the pebble", op. 27a no. 3 (1973) [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Claude Gregory (b. 1905), "The clod and the pebble", c1946, unpublished [sung text not yet checked]
by David Haines (b. 1956), "The clod and the pebble", 1972-9, rev. 1984, first performed 1979 [ high voice and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by Bo Holten (b. 1948), "The clod and the pebble", 1982, published c1983, first performed 1982 [ 2 SATB choruses, percussion, and three clarinets ], Copenhagen : Edition Wilhelm Hansen [sung text not yet checked]
by Daniel Jenkyn Jones (1912 - 1993), "The clod and the pebble", 1977, first performed 1977 [ SATB chorus and orchestra ], from Hear the Voice of the Ancient Bard, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Joan Littlejohn (b. 1937), "The clod and the pebble", 1967-70, first performed 1971 [ voice and piano ], from Blakes Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul, Part II : Songs of Experience, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
by Ruth Margaret Lomon (b. 1930), "The clod and the pebble", 1962, published c1980, first performed 1963 [ contralto and viola ], from Five songs after poems by William Blake, no. 4, Washington, DC : Arsis Press [sung text not yet checked]
by Wilfrid Howard Mellers (b. 1914), "The clod of clay", 1973-4 [ four soli, three choruses, large orchestra and organ ], from Sun-flower -- The Quaternity of William Blake [sung text not yet checked]
by Michael Richard Miller (b. 1932), "The clod and the pebble", 1965, first performed 1966 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Blake on Love, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Tage Nielsen (1929 - 2003), "The clod and the pebble", 1979, first performed 1979 [ soprano and vibraphone ], from 5 Poems by William Blake, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by Sarah L. Rodgers (b. 1953), "The clod and the pebble", first performed 1984 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Six Songs of Experience, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020), "The clod and the pebble", op. 132 no. 7 (2001) [ speaker and tape ], from The Innocence of Experience, no. 7 [sung text checked 1 time]
by John Austin Sykes (1909 - 1962), "Love seeketh not itself to please" [ baritone and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Lester Trimble (b. 1923), "Arioso", subtitle: "The clod and the pebble", 1967, published c1969 [ medium voice, violin, oboe, and harpsichord or piano ], from Petit Concert, no. 4, NY : C. F. Peters [sung text not yet checked]
by Lawrence Willingham (b. 1942), "The clod and the pebble ", op. 17 no. 2 (1979) [ soprano and piano ], from Songs of Innocence and Experience, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]

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

RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "Комок и камень", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 73