by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936)
Eight o'clock
Language: English
He stood, and heard the steeple Sprinkle the quarters on the morning town. One, two, three, four, to market-place and people It tossed them down. Strapped, noosed, nighing his hour, He stood and counted them and cursed his luck; And then the clock collected in the tower Its strength, and struck.
Text Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), "Eight o'clock", appears in Last Poems, no. 15, first published 1922 [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 Rebecca Clarke (1886 - 1979), "Eight o'clock", 1927, published 1928 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Nick Peros (b. 1963), "Eight o'clock" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by John Ramsden Williamson (1929 - 2015), "Eight o'clock" [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 51