Answer to a child's question | What the Birds Say | Do you ask what the birds say? The Sparrow, the Dove

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834)

Do you ask what the birds say? The...

Language: English

Do you ask what the birds say? The Sparrow, the Dove,
The Linnet and Thrush say " I love and I love!"
In the winter they're silent -- the wind is so strong;
What it says, I don't know, but it sings a loud song.
But green leaves, and blossoms, and sunny warm weather,
And singing and loving -- all come back together.
But the Lark is so brimful of gladness and love,
The green fields below him, the blue sky above,
That he sings, and he sings; and forever sings he --
"I love my Love, and my Love loves me!"

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Text Authorship:

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834), "Answer to a child's question" [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 Richard Rodney Bennett (1936 - 2012), "The lark", published 1966 [ voice or unison chorus and piano ], from The Aviary, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
by Mary Buchanan , "I Love My Love", published 1889 [ voice and piano ], London, Boosey & Hawkes [sung text not yet checked]
by Frederic Hymen Cowen, Sir (1852 - 1935), "What the Birds Say", <<1913 [ SA chorus and piano ], London, Novello [sung text not yet checked]
by Frederic Hymen Cowen, Sir (1852 - 1935), "What the Birds Say", published 1886 [ vocal duet for soprano and contralto with piano ], from 6 Duets, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
by Theodora Dutton , "What the Birds Say", published 1926 [ voice and piano ], Pennsylvania, Theodore Presser [sung text not yet checked]
by Leonard J[ordan] Lehrman (b. 1949), "Answer to a child's question", op. 48 (1978), first performed 1979 [ coloratura soprano and woodwind quintet or piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in English, [adaptation] ; composed by Stephen Wilkinson.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-01-08
Line count: 10
Word count: 99