by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936)
The olive in its orchard
Language: English
The olive in its orchard
Should now be rooted sure,
To cast abroad its branches
And flourish and endure.
Aloft amid the trenches
Its dressers dug and died
The olive in its orchard
Should prosper and abide.
Close should the fruit be clustered
And light the leaf should wave,
So deep the root is planted
In the corrupting grave.
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Text Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), "The olive", appears in Additional Poems, no. 23, first published 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 Peter Sculthorpe (b. 1929), "The olive", W17 (1946) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Ramsden Williamson (1929 - 2015), "The olive - The olive in its orchard" [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2011-03-04
Line count: 12
Word count: 59