by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Whether men do laugh or weep
Language: English
Whether men do laugh or weep, Whether they do wake or sleep, Whether they die young or old, Whether they feel heat or cold, There is underneath the sun Nothing in true earnest done. All our pride is but a jest. None are worst and none are best. Grief and joy and hope and fear Play their pageants ev'rywhere. Vain opinion all doth sway, And the world is but a play. Powers above in clouds do sit, Marking our poor apish wit, That so lamely, without state, Their high glory imitate. No ill can be felt but pain, And that happy men disdain.
R. Vaughan Williams sets stanzas 1-2
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked 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 Philip Rosseter (1567?8 - 1623), "Whether men do laugh or weep" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Epilogue", stanzas 1-2 [ SATB chorus ], from cantata In Windsor Forest, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Richard Flatter) , "Wahn und Schmerz", appears in Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten, first published 1936
Researcher for this text: Pauline Kroger
This text was added to the website: 2009-11-16
Line count: 18
Word count: 103