I know a bank [whereon the wild thyme blows]1,
Where [oxlips]2 and the nodding violet grows
[Quite over-canopied with luscious]3 woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:
There sleeps [Titania some time]4 of the night,
Lull'd in [these]5 flowers with dances and delight.
And there the snake throws [her]6 enameled skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in.

L. Lehmann sets lines 1-2, 5-6

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Roe: "where the whild thyme grows"
² Lehmann: "oxlip"
³ Proctor-Gregg: "All over-canopied by luscious"; Harrison: "Quite over-canopied by lush"
⁴ Lehmann: "our Fairy Queen some times"
⁵ Lehmann: "the"
⁶ Proctor-Gregg: "his"

Authorship

• by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, Scene 1 [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 Winifred May Bury (1897 - 1977), "I know a bank", copyright © 1933. [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Julius Allan Greenway Harrison (1885 - 1963), "I know a bank" [
   text verified 1 time
  ]
• by Liza Lehmann (1862 - 1918), "Titania's Cradle", lines 1-2,5-6. [
   text verified 1 time
  ]
• by Humphrey Procter-Gregg (1895 - 1980), "I know a bank" [voice and piano] [
   text verified 1 time
  ]
• by Betty Roe (b. 1930), "I know a bank", published 2001 [medium voice, recorder, and piano], from the collection Seven Short Songs for voice, recorder and piano, no. 7. [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo)

Researcher for this text: Barbara Miller

This text was added to the website: 2006-12-05
Line count: 8
Word count: 59

Je sais un banc où s'épanouit le thym sauvage,
où poussent l'oreille d'ours et la violette branlante.
Il est couvert par un dais de chèvrefeuilles vivaces,
de suaves roses musquées et d'églantiers.
C'est là que dort Titania, à certain moment de la nuit,
bercée dans ces fleurs par les danses et les délices.