If you would like to use our texts and translations, please click here for more information.
Text
It was a lover and his lass
English source:
William Shakespeare
It was a lover and his lass,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino.
That o'er the green cornfield did pass,
In spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding a ding:
Sweet lovers love the spring.
Between the acres of the rye,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
These pretty country folks would lie.
In spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding a ding:
Sweet lovers love in the spring.
And therefore take the present time,
Any with hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
For love is crowned with the prime
In spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding a ding:
Sweet lovers love the spring.
_As You Like It_, Act 5, Scene 4
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino.
That o'er the green cornfield did pass,
In spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding a ding:
Sweet lovers love the spring.
Between the acres of the rye,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
These pretty country folks would lie.
In spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding a ding:
Sweet lovers love in the spring.
And therefore take the present time,
Any with hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
For love is crowned with the prime
In spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding a ding:
Sweet lovers love the spring.
_As You Like It_, Act 5, Scene 4
Composer
Poet
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet, and the "Bard of Avon". His extant…