LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,102)
  • Text Authors (19,442)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

by Matthew Gregory Lewis (1775 - 1818)

Why, fair maid in every feature
Language: English 
Why, fair maid in every feature,
Are such signs so fair expressed?
Can a wandering wretched creature
With such terror fill thy breast?

Does my frenzy look so ugly?
Trust me, sweet, life's airs are vain,
Not for kingdoms would I harm thee,
Shun not then, poor Crazy Jane.

Does my frenzy seem to harm thee?
Mark me and avoid my woe,
When men flatter, sigh, and languish,
Think them false, I found them so.

For I love thee so sincerely
None could ever love again,
Young Henry fled and with him forever
Fled the wits of Crazy Jane.

Fondly my young heart receiv'd him,
Which was doomed to love but one.
He sighed - he vowed - and I believed him,
He was false - and I undone.

Since that hour has reason never
Held her empire o'er my brain,
Young Henry fled and with him forever
Fled the wits of Crazy Jane.

Lonely now and broken hearted,
And with frenzied thoughts beset
On that spot where last we parted,
On that spot where first we met.

Then I will sing my lovelorn ditty,
Still I'll lonely pace the plain,
And each passerby in pity cries:
"God help poor Crazy Jane!"

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Matthew Gregory Lewis (1775 - 1818), first published <<1841 [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 Harriet Abrams (1760 - 1825), "Crazy Jane : a favorite song", published 1798? [ voice and piano ], London : L. Lavenu [sung text not yet checked]
  • by John Davy (1763 - 1824), "Crazy Jane", 1800, many textual changes [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2009-11-02
Line count: 32
Word count: 199

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris