The look of love alarms,
Because it's fill'd with fire;
But the look of soft deceit
Shall win the lover's hire.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

• by William Blake (1757 - 1827), written 1793, appears in Notebook, in Gnomic Verses, in 17. Several Questions Answered, no. 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 Romulus Franceschini (b. 1929), "The look of love alarms", 1964 [tenor or soprano and piano], from Blake Cycle, no. 5. [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Peter Tahourdin (1928 - 2009), "The look of love alarms, because it's filled with fire", 1968 [SATB chorus a cappella], from Seven Gnomic Verses, no. 4. [
   text not verified 
  ]

This text (or a part of it) is used in a work

• by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Eternity", 1957, published 1958 [voice and oboe], from Ten Blake Songs, no. 10..
  • Go to the full setting text.
    

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2011-01-07
Line count: 4
Word count: 21