When daisies pied and violets blue
 [And lady-smocks all silver white,
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue,]1
  Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo, then on ev'ry tree
Mocks married men, for thus sings he,
  Cuckoo,
Cuckoo, cuckoo: o word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear.

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
  And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,
[When]2 turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,
  And maidens bleach their summer [smocks]3,
The cuckoo, then on ev'ry tree
Mocks married men, for thus sings he,
  Cuckoo,
Cuckoo, cuckoo: o word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Stravinsky: reversed.
² Arne: "And"
³ Arne: "frocks"

Authorship:

• by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), appears in Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene 2 [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 Godfrey Edward Pellew Arkwright (1864 - 1944), "When daisies pied", published [1902?] [ high medium voice and piano ], from Nine Songs from Shakespeare, London, Joseph Williams [sung text not yet checked]
• by Thomas Augustine Arne (1710 - 1778), "When daisies pied" [ soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano ], note: there is also a version of this song with a clarinet part written by Henry Lazarus (1815-1895)  [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Alan Bullard (b. 1947), "The cuckoo - When daisies pied", 1985, first performed 1985 [ baritone and piano ], from Three Bird Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Madeleine Dring (1923 - 1977), "The cuckoo" [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Edmunds (1913 - 1986), "When Daisies Pied" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956), "When daisies pied", op. 28a no. 1 (1946-7) [ voice, small orchestra ], from Four Songs from Love's Labours Lost, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Wolfgang Fortner (1907 - 1987), "When daisies pied", 1946, published 1947 [ voice and piano ], from Songs nach Texten von William Shakespeare mit Klavierbegleitung , no. 3, Mainz : Schott, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "When daisies pied", op. 181 no. 5 (1988) [ counter-tenor, recorder, harpsichord, and violoncello ], from Six by Four, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "When daisies pied", 1920 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Mervyn, Lord Horder, the Second Baron of Ashford (1910 - 1998), "When daisies pied", 1986 [ voice and piano ], from Seven Shakespeare Songs, London : Lengnick [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Jeffreys (1927 - 2010), "When daisies pied" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by J. Frederick Keel (1871 - 1954), "When daisies pied", published 1940 [ 2-part chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by George Alexander MacFarren (1813 - 1887), "When daisies pied", 1864 [ chorus ], partsong [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950), "When daisies pied", R. 76 no. 3 (1940), published 1940 [ high voice or medium voice and piano ], from Four Shakespeare Songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971), "Spring", 1953, from Three Songs from William Shakespeare, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930), "Mockery", 1927, published 1928 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:

• by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "The cuckoo and the owl" [ high voice and piano ], from Shakespeare Songs, Book VII, no. 3
  • View the full text. [sung text not yet checked]
    

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in French (Français), a translation by Camille de Sainte-Croix (1859 - 1915) ; composed by Paul Vidal.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773 - 1853) , no title ; composed by Johann Peter Cornelius D'Alquen, Wilhelm Petersen.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation ; composed by Jan Karol Gall.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Karl Georg Mantey ; composed by Wolfgang Fortner.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767 - 1845) ; composed by Harald Genzmer.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Ferdinand Mayerhofer von Grünbühel (1798 - 1869) , "Der Frühling", appears in Der Liebe Müh' umsonst, Wien: J. P. Sollinger, first published 1825 ; composed by Friedrich Wilhelm Kücken.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , "Kevät", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo)
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist) , "Lied. Der Frühling", first published 1870
• NOR Norwegian (Bokmål) (Arild Bakke) , "Når spraglet tusenfryd", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 97

Kun sinivuokot, orvokit 
Ja käenkengät kellakkaat 
Ja valkoliljat, valvatit 
Sulollaan kirjaa nurmimaat, 
Niin puusta käen laulu soi 
Ja miestä nainutt' ilkamoi: 
Kukkuu! 
Kukkuu, kukkuu! Se kukahdus 
On naineen miehen kauhistus.

Kun leivo aamun julistaa 
Ja paimen luikkuuns' ääntelee 
Ja naakat, kyyhkyt kuhertaa 
Ja paitaans' immyt valkaisee, 
Niin puusta käen laulu soi 
Ja miestä nainutt' ilkamoi:
Kukkuu! 
Kukkuu, kukkuu! Se kukahdus 
On naineen miehen kauhistus.