My silks and fine array | My silks and fine array

My silks and fine array

Language: English

 My silks and fine array, 
 My smiles and languish'd air,
 By love are driv'n away;
 And mournful lean Despair
 Brings me yew to deck my grave:
 Such end true lovers have.

 His face is fair as heav'n,
 When springing buds unfold;
 O why to him was't giv'n,
 Whose heart is wintry cold?
 His breast is love's all worship'd tomb,
 Where all love's pilgrims come.

 Bring me an axe and spade,
 Bring me a winding sheet;
 When I my grave have made,
 Let winds and tempests beat:
 Then down I'll lie, as cold as clay,
 True love doth pass away!

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Text Authorship:

by William Blake (1757 - 1827) [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 Malcolm Henry Arnold (1921 - 2006), "My silks and fine array", op. 66 no. 4 (1959), published 1966, from Five William Blake Songs, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by Ethel Mary Boyce (1863 - 1936), "My silks and fine array", 1927 [ vocal trio for female voices with piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Albert Lee Carr (b. 1929), "My silks and fine array", published c1965 [ mixed chorus a cappella ], NY : Lawson-Gould Music Publishers (Schirmer) [sung text not yet checked]
by William Edmondstoune Duncan (1866 - 1920), "My silks and fine array", op. 114 no. 3, published 1910 [ high voice and piano ], from Six Songs, no. 3, London : Vincent Music Co. [sung text not yet checked]
by John Edmunds (1913 - 1986), "True love doth pass away" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Alan Gray (1855 - 1935), "My silks and fine array ", published 1904 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], London : Bosworth & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
by Ole Carsten Green (b. 1922), "My silks and fine array ", op. 27c no. 9 (1973), first performed 1980 [ mezzo-soprano, flute, viola, and violoncello ], from Three "Summer Songs", no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by Alfred Matthew Hale (1875 - 1960), "My silks and fine array ", op. 16 no. 1, published 1910 [ voice and piano ], from Twelve Songs, no. 1, London : A. Lengnick [sung text not yet checked]
by Isabel Hearne , "My silks and fine array ", published 1910 [ voice and piano ], from Two Lyrics, no. 2, London : Schott & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
by Arthur Hinton (1869 - 1941), "My silks and fine array " [ voice and piano ], from Four Songs, 2nd Set, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by Henry Festing Jones (1851 - 1928), "My silks and fine array ", op. 3 no. 2, published 1888 [ medium voice and piano ], from Six Songs, no. 2, London: Weekes & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
by Karl Richard Korte (b. 1928), "My silks and fine array", published c1971 [ four-part mixed chorus and piano ], from Aspects of Love, no. 8, Boston : E. C. Schirmer [sung text not yet checked]
by Donald Lybbert (1923 - 1981), "Bring me an axe and spade", published 1969 [ soprano and 2 pianos ], from Lines for the Fallen, no. 4, NY : C. F. Peters [sung text not yet checked]
by John Mitchell (b. 1941), "My silks and fine array", op. 1 no. 3 (1964), rev. 1977, from Seven Songs from William Blake, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Irena Regina Poldowski (1880 - 1932), "Song", published c1924 [ medium voice and piano ], from Two Songs on Words by William Blake, London : J. W. Chester [sung text not yet checked]
by John Elwood Price (b. 1935), "Song on a Poem of William Blake", 1969 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020), "Despair", op. 49 no. 2 (1987-8) [ soprano and instrumental ensemble (six instruments) ], from Songs of Love and Madness, no. 2 [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: 18
Word count: 100