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'The Throstle'
Text
The Throstle
English source:
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
‘Summer is coming, summer is coming.
I know it, I know it, I know it.
Light again, leaf again, life again, love again,’
Yes, my wild little poet.
Sing the new year in under the blue.
Last year you sang it as gladly.
‘New, new, new, new!’ Is it then so new
That you should carol so madly?
‘Love again, song again, nest again, young again,’
Never a prophet so crazy!
And hardly a daisy as yet, little friend,
See, there is hardly a daisy.
‘Here again, here, here, here, happy year’!
O warble unchidden, unbidden!
Summer is coming, is coming, my dear,
And all the winters are hidden.
I know it, I know it, I know it.
Light again, leaf again, life again, love again,’
Yes, my wild little poet.
Sing the new year in under the blue.
Last year you sang it as gladly.
‘New, new, new, new!’ Is it then so new
That you should carol so madly?
‘Love again, song again, nest again, young again,’
Never a prophet so crazy!
And hardly a daisy as yet, little friend,
See, there is hardly a daisy.
‘Here again, here, here, here, happy year’!
O warble unchidden, unbidden!
Summer is coming, is coming, my dear,
And all the winters are hidden.
Composer
Maude Valérie White
In 1903, respected critic J. A. Fuller Maitland declared Maude Valérie White’s songs to be ‘known and loved everywhere the English language is spoken’. Passionate and emotionally ‘unashamed’, White developed a distinctive musical voice, especially…
Poet
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred, Lord Tennyson was Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular British poets. Read some of his work here, on Poetry Foundation.