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by John Dryden (1631 - 1700)

Fairest Isle
Language: English 
Available translation(s): FRE GER SPA
Fairest isle, all isles excelling,
Seat of pleasure and of love
Venus here will choose her dwelling,
And forsake her Cyprian grove.
Cupid from his fav'rite nation
Care and envy will remove;
Jealousy, that poisons passion,
And despair, that dies for love.

Gentle murmurs, sweet complaining,
Sighs that blow the fire of love
Soft repulses, kind disdaining,
Shall be all the pains you prove.
Ev'ry swain shall pay his duty,
Grateful ev'ry nymph shall prove;
And as these excel in beauty,
Those shall be renown'd for love.

Authorship:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Plus belle des îles", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , "Schönstes Eiland", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SPA Spanish (Español) (Mercedes Vivas) , "La isla más hermosa", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Virginia Knight

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 87