by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973)
Edward Lear
Language: English
Left by his friend to breakfast alone on the white Italian shore, his Terrible Demon arose Over his shoulder; he wept to himself in the night, A dirty landscape-painter who hated his nose. The legions of cruel inquisitive They Were so many and big like dogs: he was upset By Germans and boats; affection was miles away: But guided by tears he successfully reached his Regret. How prodigiuous the welcome was. Flowers took his hat And bore him off to introduce him to the tongs; The demon's false nose made the table laugh; a cat Soon had him waltzing madly, let him squeeze her hand; Words pushed him to the piano to sing comic songs; And children swarmed to him like settlers. He became a land.
Confirmed with W.H. Auden, Collected Shorter Poems 1927-1957, London, Faber and Faber, 1966, p. 127
Text Authorship:
- by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), "Edward Lear", written 1939 [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 Nicola LeFanu (b. 1947), "Edward Lear", 2007 [ tenor and piano ], from Two Auden Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2026-03-07
Line count: 14
Word count: 126