Cupid | Why was Cupid a boy

Why was Cupid a boy

Language: English

Why was Cupid a boy,
And why a boy was he ?
He should have been a girl,
For aught that I can see.

For he shoots with his bow,
And a girl shoots with her eye;
And they both are merry and glad
And laugh when we do cry.

And to make Cupid a boy
Was surely a woman's plan,
For a boy never learns to mock
Till he has become a man :

And then he is so pierced through
And wounded with arrowy smarts,
That the whole business of his life
Is to pick out the heads of the darts.

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Text Authorship:

by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Cupid" [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 A. (Alfred or Arthur?) Herbert Brewer (1865 - 1928), "Cupid", published c1924 [ SA chorus ], London : E. Ashdown, in Edwin Ashdown's Series of Vocal Duets for Class Singing, 2nd series, no. 99 [sung text not yet checked]
by Cecil S. Effinger (b. 1914), "Why was Cupid a boy?", 1955, published c1971 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Three Contemporary Madrigals, no. 3, New York : G. Schirmer [sung text not yet checked]
by Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874 - 1949), "Cupid", op. 9 (Seven songs) no. 4 (1912) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by John (Nicholson) Ireland (1879 - 1962), "Cupid", 1961, published c1961, first performed 1961 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], London: Augener & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
by Walter Byron Mourant (1910 - 1995), "Cupid", 1977 [ voice and harp ], from Two Songs, no. 2, NY : American Composers Alliance [sung text not yet checked]
by Paul Schwartz (1907 - 1999), "Cupid", 196-? [ voice and piano ], from Blake Songs, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
by Maude Valérie White (1855 - 1937), "Why was Cupid a boy?", published c1899 [ medium voice and piano ], London : Metzler & Co. [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-01-29
Line count: 16
Word count: 101