Oh fair enough are sky and plain | Oh fair enough are sky and plain

by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936)

Oh fair enough are sky and plain

Language: English

Oh fair enough are sky and plain,
  But I know fairer far:
Those are as beautiful again
  That in the water are;

The pools and rivers wash so clean
  The trees and clouds and air,
The like on earth was never seen,
  And oh that I were there.

These are the thoughts I often think
  As I stand gazing down
In act upon the cressy brink
  To strip and dive and drown;

But in the golden-sanded brooks
  And azure meres I spy
A silly lad that longs and looks
  And wishes he were I.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in A Shropshire Lad, no. 20, first published 1896 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Robert F. Baksa (b. 1938), "Oh fair enough are sky and plain", from Housman Songs, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
by George Sainton Kaye Butterworth (1885 - 1916), "Oh fair enough are sky and plain", published 1912 [ voice and piano ], from Bredon Hill and other songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by Louis Crerar , "Oh fair enough are sky and plain", 1954 [ high voice and piano ], from Housman Songs [sung text not yet checked]
by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (1933 - 2010), "Oh fair enough are sky and plain", c1933 [sung text not yet checked]
by Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950), "Oh fair enough are sky and plain", R. 100, published 1957 [ baritone and piano ], Joseph Williams [sung text checked 1 time]
by Charles Wilfred Orr (1893 - 1976), "Oh fair enough are sky and plain", 1931, published 1934 [ baritone and piano ], from Seven Songs from "A Shropshire Lad", no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "Oh fair enough are sky and plain", op. 187 (1948) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Corbett C. Sumsion , "Oh fair enough are sky and plain", published c1936 [ TTBB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Freda Mary Swain (1902 - 1985), "Oh fair enough are sky and plain", 1925 [ tenor and piano ensemble ], from The Lost Heart [sung text not yet checked]
by John Ramsden Williamson (1929 - 2015), "Oh fair enough are sky and plain" [ 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: 16
Word count: 94