by Robert Browning (1812 - 1889)
Nay but you, who do not love her
Language: English
Nay but you, who do not love her, Is she not pure gold, my mistress? Holds earth aught -- speak truth -- above her? Aught like this tress, see, and this tress, And this last fairest tress of all, So fair, see, ere I let it fall? Because, you spend your lives in praising; To praise, you search the wide world over: Then why not witness, calmly gazing, If earth holds aught -- speak truth -- above her? Above this tress, and this, I touch But cannot praise, I love so much!
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship
- by Robert Browning (1812 - 1889), "Song", appears in Bells and Pomegranates, No. VII, first published 1845 [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 Parsons Beach (1877 - 1953), "Is she not pure gold", published 1907. [medium voice and piano] [text not verified]
- by William Henry Bell (1873 - 1946), "Nay, but you, who do not love her", op. 9 no. ? [voice and piano], from Songs of youth and springtide [text not verified]
- by Harry Ellingham , "Her tresses" [medium voice and piano] [text not verified]
- by James Cliffe Forrester (1860 - 1941), "Devotion" [high voice and piano], from Songs, Words by Robert Browning [text not verified]
- by Eleanor Everest Freer (1864 - 1942), "Nay! but you do not love her", published 1912. [low voice and piano] [text not verified]
- by Eleanor C. Gregory , "Song", published 1887 [medium-high voice and piano], from Six songs [text not verified]
- by Edward Iles , "Nay, but do you not love her", published 1920 [medium voice and piano], from Three songs [text not verified]
- by Harold Vincent Jervis-Read (1883 - 1945), "My mistress", published 1918 [medium voice and piano], from Two Ecstasies [text not verified]
- by Malcolm Leonard Lawson (b. 1849), "Is she not pure gold, my mistress?" [voice and piano] [text not verified]
- by George Oldroyd (1886 - 1951), "Tresses", published 1924. [high voice and piano] [text not verified]
- by W. A. Pickard-Cambridge , "Nay, but you, who do not love her", published 1928 [medium voice or low voice and piano], from Six songs [text not verified]
- by Arthur Somervell, Sir (1863 - 1937), "Nay, but you, who do not love her", published 1923 [voice and piano], from A Broken Arc [text not verified]
- by Arthur Wilder Thayer (1857 - 1934), "Nay, but you", published 1892 [high voice and piano], from Three songs [text not verified]
- by (John) Francis Toye (1883 - 1964), "Nay, but you, who do not love her", published 1938. [medium voice and piano] [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-02-26
Line count: 12
Word count: 88