by Alice Christina Meynell (1847 - 1922)
The October Redbreast
Language: English
Autumn is weary, halt, and old; Ah, but she owns the song of joy! Her colours fade, her woods are cold. Her singing-bird's a boy, a boy. In lovely Spring the birds were bent On nests, on use, on love, forsooth! Grown-up were they. This boy's content, For his is liberty, his is youth. The musical stripling sings for play Taking no thought, and virgin-glad. For duty sang those mates in May. This singing-bird's a lad, a lad.
Text Authorship:
- by Alice Christina Meynell (1847 - 1922), "The October Redbreast", appears in The Last Poems of Alice Meynell, first published 1923 [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 Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874 - 1949), "The October Redbreast", op. 112 (Five Part Songs for Women's Unaccompanied Three-Part Choir) no. ? (1935) [ three-part women's chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "The October Redbreast", op. 447 (1955) [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-02-02
Line count: 12
Word count: 78