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by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832 - 1898), as Lewis Carroll

All in the golden afternoon
Language: English 
Our translations:  FRE
All in the golden afternoon
Full leisurely we glide;
For both our oars, with little skill,
By little arms are plied,
While little hands make vain pretence
Our wanderings to guide.

Ah, cruel Three! In such an hour,
Beneath such dreamy weather,
To beg a tale of breath too weak
To stir the tiniest feather!
Yet what can one poor voice avail
Against three tongues together?

Imperious Prima flashes forth
Her edict to "begin it":
In gentler tones Secunda hopes
"There will be nonsense in it!"
While Tertia interrupts the tale
Not more than once a minute.

Anon, to sudden silence won,
In fancy they pursue
The dream-child moving through a land
Of wonders wild and new,
In friendly chat with bird or beast —
And half believe it true.

And ever, as the story drained
The wells of fancy dry,
And faintly strove that weary one
To put the subject by,
"The rest next time —" "It is next time!"
The happy voices cry.

Thus grew the tale of Wonderland:
Thus slowly, one by one,
Its quaint events were hammered out —
And now the tale is done,
And home we steer, a merry crew,
Beneath the setting sun.

Alice! A childish story take,
And with a gentle hand,
Lay it where Childhood's dreams are twined
In Memory's mystic band,
Like pilgrim's wither'd wreath of flowers
Pluck'd in far-off land.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   G. Bachlund •   L. Lehmann 

G. Bachlund sets stanzas 1, 7, 1
L. Lehmann sets stanza 7

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832 - 1898), as Lewis Carroll, no title, appears in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, London, MacMillan; text from the preface, first published 1865 [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Childhood Dreams", 1991, published 1996, stanzas 1,7,1 [ high voice or medium voice and piano ], from "Alice" Songs, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Liza Lehmann (1862 - 1918), "Epilogue", stanza 7 [ soprano, contralto, tenor, and bass ], from Nonsense Songs: The Songs That Came Out Wrong, no. 9 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Betty Roe (b. 1930), "All in the golden afternoon" [ soprano, flute, piano and violoncello ] [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Henri Bué) , no title [an adaptation]
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2007-05-08
Line count: 42
Word count: 231

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