by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)
Sweet dancer
Language: English
The girl goes dancing there On the leaf-sown, new-mown, smooth Grass plot of the garden; Escaped from bitter youth, Escaped out of her crowd, Or out of her black cloud. Ah, dancer, ah, sweet dancer! If strange men come from the house To lead her away, do not say That she is happy being crazy; Lead them gently astray; Let her finish her dance, Let her finish her dance. Ah, dancer, ah, sweet dancer!
First published in London Mercury, March 1938
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "Sweet dancer" [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 Elinor Armer (b. 1939), "Sweet Dancer", 2011 [ voice and piano ], from Will You, Won't You?, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jonathan Harvey (1939 - 2012), "Sweet dancer", 1965 [ bass and piano ], from Four songs of Yeats [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Kenneth Tavener (1944 - 2013), "Sweet dancer" [ soprano, flute, harp, viola ], from To a child dancing in the wind, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
- by James Walter Wilson (b. 1922), "Sweet dancer", op. 39 (Yeats songs) no. ? [ soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-01-20
Line count: 14
Word count: 74