by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)
A pity beyond all telling
Language: English
A pity beyond all telling Is hid in the heart of love: The [folk]1 who are buying and selling, The clouds on their journey above, The cold, wet winds ever blowing, And the shadowy hazel grove Where mouse-grey waters are flowing Threaten the head that I love.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Grill: "folks"
Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "The pity of love", appears in The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics, first published 1892 [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 Stanley Grill (b. 1953), "The Pity of Love", copyright © 1987 [ soprano and string quartet ], from To a Child, no. 8, confirmed with an online score [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ruth Schonthal (1924 - 2006), "A pity beyond all telling", 1949 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Nine Lyric Dramatic Songs, no. 2, Furore Edition [sung text not yet checked]
- by Raymond Warren (b. 1928), "The pity of love", 1965 [ tenor and guitar ], from The Pity of Love [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "La pitié de l'amour", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , "Trua an Ghrá", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2009-01-20
Line count: 8
Word count: 47