by Elinor Wylie (1885 - 1928)
Beauty
Language: English
Say not of Beauty she is good, Or aught but beautiful, Or sleek to doves' wings of the wood Her wild wings of a gull. Call her not wicked; that word's touch Consumes her like a curse; But love her not too much, too much, For that is even worse. O, she is neither good nor bad, But innocent and wild! Enshrine her and she dies, who had The hard heart of a child.
Text Authorship:
- by Elinor Wylie (1885 - 1928), "Beauty", appears in Nets to Catch the Wind, first published 1921 [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), "Beauty", 2012 [ soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano ], also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Russell Woollen (1923 - 1994), "Beauty", 1961 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from 3 Madrigals [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Bertram Kottmann , "Schönheit", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission ; composed by Gary Bachlund.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-08-31
Line count: 12
Word count: 74