by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)
Never shall a young man
Language: English
"Never shall a young man, Thrown into despair By those great honey-coloured Ramparts at your ear, Love you for yourself alone And not your yellow hair." "But I can get a hair-dye And set such colour there, Brown, or black, or carrot, That young men in despair May love me for myself alone And not my yellow hair.' "I heard an old religious man But yesternight declare That he had found a text to prove That only God, my dear, Could love you for yourself alone And not your yellow hair."
About the headline (FAQ)
First published in Spectator, December 1932Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "For Anne Gregory" [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 Martin Dalby (b. 1942), "Yellow hair" [ soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Woods Duke (1899 - 1984), "Yellow hair", published 1953 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Francis John Routh (b. 1927), "For Anne Gregory", 1962 [ soprano and piano ], from A Woman Young and Old [sung text not yet checked]
- by Raymond Warren (b. 1928), "For Anne Gregory", 1965 [ tenor and guitar ], from The Pity of Love [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-01-19
Line count: 18
Word count: 91