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by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837 - 1909)

Whiter and whiter
Language: English 
Whiter and whiter
The dark lines grow,
And broader opens and brighter
The sense of the text below.

Nightfall and morrow
Bring nigher the boy
Whom wanting we want not sorrow,
Whom having we want no joy.

Clearer and clearer
The sweet sense grows
Of the word which hath summer for hearer,
The word on the lips of the rose.

Duskily dwindles
Each deathlike day,
Till June rearising rekindles
The depth of the darkness of May.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837 - 1909), no title, appears in Tristram of Lyonesse and Other Poems, in A Dark Month, no. 25, first published 1882 [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 John Reginald Lang-Hyde (1899 - 1990), "Whiter and whiter", 1950. [voice and piano] [
     text not verified 
    ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-01-27
Line count: 16
Word count: 76

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