by William Blake (1757 - 1827)
I love to rise in a summer morn
Language: English
I love to rise in a summer morn When the birds sing on every tree; The distant huntsman winds his horn, And the skylark sings with me. O! what sweet company. But to go to school in a summer morn, O! it drives all joy away; Under a cruel eye outworn, The little ones spend the day In sighing and dismay. Ah! then at times I drooping sit, And spend many an anxious hour, Nor in my book can I take delight, Nor sit in learning's bower, Worn thro' with the dreary shower. How can the bird that is born for joy Sit in a cage and sing? How can a child, when fears annoy, But droop his tender wing, And forget his youthful spring? O! father and mother, if buds are nipp'd And blossoms blown away, And if the tender plants are stripp'd Of their joy in the springing day, By sorrow and care's dismay, How shall the summer arise in joy, Or the summer fruits appear? Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy, Or bless the mellowing year, When the blasts of winter appear?
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Authorship
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The schoolboy", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 25, first published 1794 [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 George Antheil (1900 - 1959), "The school boy", 1948, from Songs of Experience, no. 3. [text not verified]
- by Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "The schoolboy", 194-?, published 1958 [SS chorus and piano], from Four innocent airs, no. 3. [text not verified]
- by William Bolcom (b. 1938), "The school boy", 1956-81 [solo voices, chorus, orchestra], from Songs of Experience, Volume Two, no. 12. [text not verified]
- by Elyse Donathan Curtis (b. 1929), "The school boy", c1974, first performed 1974 [medium voice, chorus, and piano], from Nine Songs of William Blake, no. 9. [text not verified]
- by Ole Carsten Green (b. 1922), "The schoolboy", op. 27a no. 25 (1973) [voice and piano], from Songs of Experience, no. 25. [text not verified]
- by Alfred Matthew Hale (1875 - 1960), "The school boy", op. 29 no. 5, published 1913 [voice, piano, and violin obbligato], from Five Songs, no. 5, London : A. Lengnick [text not verified]
- by Wilfred Josephs (b. 1927), "The schoolboy", op. 80 no. ? (1971), from A Child of the Universe, London : Novello [text not verified]
- by Dorothy Hill Klotzman , "A summer morn", published c1967 [2-part chorus a cappella], from Poetical Sketches, no. 4, NY : Mercury Music Corp. [text not verified]
- by Dorothy Hill Klotzman , "How can a child", published c1967 [2-part chorus a cappella], from Poetical Sketches, no. 7, NY : Mercury Music Corp. [text not verified]
- by Ellen Raskin (1928 - 1984), "The schoolboy", published 1966 [voice and piano or guitar], from Songs of Innocence, no. 22, Garden City, NY : Doubleday [text not verified]
- by Christopher Steel (b. 1939), "The schoolboy", 1971 [baritone and piano], from Piping Down the Valleys Wild, no. 3. [text not verified]
- by John Austin Sykes (1909 - 1962), "The schoolboy" [text not verified]
- by Ethel Lillian (Boole) Voynich (1864 - 1960), "The school boy", published c1924 [SSAA chorus], NY : H. W. Gray ; London : Novello [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:01:21
Line count: 30
Word count: 187