Where be [ye]1 going, you Devon Maid? 
   And what have ye there in the Basket? 
Ye tight little fairy just fresh from the dairy, 
   Will ye give me some cream if I ask it? 

I love your Meads, and I love your flowers, 
   And I love your junkets mainly, 
But 'hind the door I love kissing more, 
   O look not so disdainly. 

I love your hills, and I love your dales, 
   And I love your flocks a-bleating -- 
But O, on the heather to lie together, 
   With both our hearts a-beating! 

I'll put your Basket all safe in [a]2 nook, 
   Your shawl [I]3 hang up on the willow, 
And we will sigh in the daisy's eye 
   And kiss on [a]2 grass green pillow.

F. Bridge sets stanzas 1, 4, 3
R. Quilter sets stanzas 1, 3, 4

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Bridge, Quilter: "you"
² Bridge: "the"
³ Bridge, Quilter: "I'll"

Text Authorship:

• by John Keats (1795 - 1821), "The Devon maid", subtitle: "Stanzas Sent in a Letter to B. R. Haydon" [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 Dominick Argento (1927 - 2019), "The Devon maid", 1968, published 1969 [ mixed chorus a cappella ], from A Nation of Cowslips, no. 1, NY: Boosey & Hawkes [sung text not yet checked]
• by Franz Carl Bornschein (1879 - 1948), "The Devon maid", published 1928 [ TTBB and piano (or a cappella ad libitum) ], NY : J. Fischer [sung text not yet checked]
• by Frank Bridge (1879 - 1941), "The Devon maid", 1903, stanzas 1,4,3 [ medium voice and piano ], from Two Songs, no. 1, first appeared in Vocalist, 1905 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Clifford Curwin , "The Devon maid", published 1963 [ women's chorus and piano ], London : Leonard, Gould & Boltller [sung text not yet checked]
• by Dwight Fiske , "The Devon maid", published 1918 [ voice and piano ], NY : H. W. Gray [sung text not yet checked]
• by (Charles William) Eric Fogg (1903 - 1939), "The Devon maid", published 1925 [ tenor or low voice and piano ], London : Elkin [sung text not yet checked]
• by Aston Fyrrold , "The Devon maid", op. 7 no. 1, published 1917 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Richard Harding Graves (b. 1926), "Where be you going, you Devon maid?", published 1948 [ unison chorus and piano ], London : Black [sung text not yet checked]
• by (Herbert) Hamilton Harty, Sir (1879 - 1941), "The Devon maid", published 1903 [ voice and piano ], London : Augener [sung text not yet checked]
• by Eugene Hartzell (1932 - 2000), "The Devon maid", 1978 [ tenor and guitar ], from A Keats Songbook, Vienna : Doblinger ; with a German translationby Wolfgang Ploderer  [sung text not yet checked]
• by Clarence S. Hill , "Where be you going, you Devon maid", published 1907 [ tenor or baritone and piano ], from Five Songs by Keats, London : Novello [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joseph Holbrooke (1878 - 1958), "Where be you going", op. 54 no. 4 (1909), published 1910 [ voice and piano ], from Dramatic Songs, no. 4, London : Cramer [sung text not yet checked]
• by Vincent Jackson , "Where be you going, you Devon maid", published 1905 [ voice and piano ], London : Augener ; in the collection The Minstrelsy of England, Vol. I [sung text not yet checked]
• by Horace Keats (1895 - 1945), "The Devon maid", published 1945 [ voice and piano ], Sydney : Chappell [sung text not yet checked]
• by Isidore Luckstone (1861 - 1941), "Where be ye going", published 1920 [ voice and piano ], London : Winthrop Rogers [sung text not yet checked]
• by Jeffrey Mark , "Where be ye going", published 1930 [ voice and piano ], London : Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]
• by Norman Houston O'Neill (1875 - 1934), "Where be you going, you Devon maid?", op. 35 (Two Songs) no. 2 (1909), published 1909 [ voice and piano ], London : Schott  [sung text not yet checked]
• by Florence Parr-Gere , "You Devon maid", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ], NY : Harold Flammer [sung text not yet checked]
• by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "Where be you going", op. 18 (Six songs) no. 2 (1913), published 1914, stanzas 1,3,4 [ voice and piano ], London, Elkin [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Olga Racster , "The Devon maid", published 1903 [ voice and piano ], London : Boosey & Hawkes [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Urich , "The Devon maid", published 1916 [ voice and piano ], London : A. Weekes & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Maurice Vinden , "The Devon maid", published 1923 [ voice and piano ], London : Murdoch, Murdoch & Co. [sung text not yet checked]

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

• GER German (Deutsch) (Richard Flatter) , "Der Korb", appears in Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten, first published 1936

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: 122