LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,114)
  • Text Authors (19,495)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

by Geoffrey Chaucer (c1343 - 1400)

So hath your beaute fro your herte...
Language: English 
So hath your beaute fro your herte chaced
Pitee, that me ne availeth not to pleyne;
For Daunger halt your mercy in his cheyne.

Giltles my deth thus han ye me purchaced;
I sey yow soth, me nedeth not to feyne;
     So hath your beaute fro your herle chaced
     Pilee, that me ne availeth not to pleyne

Allas! that nature hath in yow compassed
So gret beaute, that no man may atteyne
To mercy, though he sterve for the peyne.
     So hath your beaute fro your herte chaced
     Pitee, that me ne availeth not to pleyne;
     For daunger halt your mercy in his cheyne.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   R. Vaughan Williams 

About the headline (FAQ)

Modernized form used by Vaughan Williams:

So hath your beauty from your hertë chased
Pity, that me ne availeth not to plain:
For Daunger halt your mercy n his chain.

Guiltless my death thus have ye me purchased;
I say you sooth, me needeth not to feign:
So hath your beauty from your hertë chased
Pity, that me ne availeth not to plain.

Alas! That nature hath in you compassed
So great beauty, that no man may attain
To mercy, though he stervë for the pain!
So hath your beauty from your hertë chased
Pity, that me ne availeth not to plain:
For Daunger halt your mercy n his chain.

Text Authorship:

  • by Geoffrey Chaucer (c1343 - 1400), "Rejection", appears in Merciles Beaute: A Triple Roundel, no. 2 [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 Edmund Duncan Rubbra (1901 - 1986), "Rejection", op. 7 (Two Songs with String Quartet) no. 1 (1923) [ voice and string quartet ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "So hath your beauty", 1921 [ soprano or tenor, 2 violins, violoncello ], from Merciless Beauty, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 104

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris