I love the [jocund]1 dance, 
The softly breathing song, 
Where innocent eyes do glance,
[And where]2 lisps the maiden's tongue.  

I love the laughing vale, 
I love the echoing [hills]3, 
Where mirth does never fail, 
And the jolly swain laughs his fill. 

I love the pleasant cot,
I love the innocent bow'r,
Where white and brown is our lot,
Or fruit in the midday hour. 

I love the oaken seat,
Beneath the oaken tree,
Where all [the old]4 villagers meet,
And laugh [our]5 sports to see. 

I love our neighbors all,
But Kitty, I [better love thee]6;
And love them [I ever]7  shall;
But thou art all to me.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Mitchell: "merry"
² Mitchell: "Where"
³ Mitchell: "hill"
⁴ Mitchell: "the"
⁵ Mitchell: "my"
⁶ Mitchell: "love thee more"
⁷ Mitchell: "ever I"

Text Authorship:

• by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Song" [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 Edgar Leslie Bainton (1880 - 1956), "I love the jocund dance", published c1913 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], London : Stainer & Bell [sung text not yet checked]
• by A. (Alfred or Arthur?) Herbert Brewer (1865 - 1928), "The jocund dance", published c1924 [ 2-part chorus with piano accompaniment ], London : E. Ashdown ; in Edwin Ashdown's Series of Vocal Duets for Class Singing, 2nd series, no. 98 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Dudley Buck (1839 - 1909), "A song", published 1891 [ vocal trio for female voices ], London : Novello, Ewar & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Edwin James Nairn Carr (b. 1926), "The jocund dance", 1952 [ 2-part children's chorus and small orchestra, harp, and piano ], from A Blake Cantata, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Frederick Corder (1852 - 1932), "I love the jocund dance", published 1889 [ 4-part chorus ], partsong [sung text not yet checked]
• by (Henry) Walford Davies, Sir (1869 - 1941), "I love the jocund dance", op. 18 (Six Songs) no. 4, published 1905 [ voice and piano ], London : Sidney Riordan [sung text not yet checked]
• by Hilda M. Grieveson , "I love the jocund dance", published 1926 [ unison chorus and piano ], London, H. F. W. Deane & Sons [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alfred Matthew Hale (1875 - 1960), "I love the jocund dance ", op. 16 no. 9, published 1910 [ voice and piano ], from Twelve Songs, no. 9, London : A. Lengnick [sung text not yet checked]
• by William Henry Harris, Sir (1883 - 1973), "I love the jocund dance", published c1966 [ unison chorus ], London, Novello [sung text not yet checked]
• by Julius Allan Greenway Harrison (1885 - 1963), "I love the jocund dance", published c1929 [ SSA chorus a cappella ], London : Hawkes & Son [sung text not yet checked]
• by Arthur Hinton (1869 - 1941), "I love the jocund dance", op. 19 no. 4, published 1903? [ medium voice and piano ], from Four Songs from William Blake, no. 4, London : Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Daniel Jenkyn Jones (1912 - 1993), "I love the jocund dance", 1977, first performed 1977 [ SATB chorus and orchestra ], from Hear the Voice of the Ancient Bard, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Daniel Jenkyn Jones (1912 - 1993), "I love the jocund dance", 1969 [ SATB chorus and piano ], from Tryptych, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by James Lyon (1872 - 1949), "I love the jocund dance ", op. 68 no. 3, published c1920 [ SSAA chorus a cappella ], London : Stainer & Bell [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Mitchell (b. 1941), "I love the merry dance", op. 1 no. 7 (1964), rev. 1977, from Seven Songs from William Blake, no. 7 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Oskar Morawetz (b. 1917), "I love the jocund dance ", 1949, published 1953 [ high voice and piano ], Toronto : Gordon V. Thompson [sung text not yet checked]
• by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "The jocund dance", op. 18 (Six songs) no. 3 (1913), published 1914 [ baritone or tenor and piano ], London : Elkin & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alec Rowley (1892 - 1958), "The jocund dance", published 1953 [ mixed chorus and accompaniment ], from Song in Maytime, no. 5, London : Novello [sung text not yet checked]
• by Leo Smith (1881 - 1952), "I love the jocund dance", published c1912 [ high voice or medium voice and piano ], from Five songs, no. 3, Winnipeg and Toronto : Whaley, Royce & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Robert Barton Smith (b. 1922), "I love the jocund dance", 1974, first performed 1975 [ TTBB chorus and piano ], from A Rhos Orpheus Suite, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Timothy Mather Spelman (1891 - 1970), "I love the jocund dance ", published c1938 [ SSA chorus and piano ], NY : Galaxy Music Corp. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Christopher Steel (b. 1939), "I love the jocund dance", 1971 [ baritone and piano ], from Piping Down the Valleys Wild, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Margaret Ada Sutherland (1897 - 1984), "The jocund dance", c1950, published c1973 [ voice and piano ], from Four Blake Songs, no. 4, Sydney : J. Albert & Sons (Belwin-Mills) [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 117