Tag Archives: song

Aphra Behn, “The Dream. A Song”

APHRA BEHN

“The Dream. A Song”

I.
The Grove was gloomy all around,
Murm’ring the Streams did pass,
Where fond Astrea laid her down
Upon a Bed of Grass.

I slept and saw a piteous sight,                                     5
Cupid a weeping lay,
Till both his little Stars of Light
Had wept themselves away.

II.
Methought I ask’d him why he cry’d,
My Pity led me on:                                                    10
All sighing the sad Boy reply’d,
Alas I am undone!

As I beneath yon Myrtles lay,
Down by Diana’s Springs,
Amyntas stole my Bow away,                                           15
And Pinion’d both my Wings.

III.
Alas ! cry’d I, ‘twas then thy Darts
Wherewith he wounded me:
Thou Mighty Deity of Hearts,
He stole his Pow’r from thee.                                    20

Revenge thee, if a God thou be,
Upon the Amorous Swain;
I’ll set thy Wings at Liberty,
And thou shalt fly again.

IV.
And for this Service on my Part,                                         25
All I implore of thee,
Is, That thou’t wound Amyntas Heart,
And make him die for me.

His Silken Fetters I Unty’d,
And the gay Wings display’d;                                        30
Which gently fann’d, he mounts and cry’d,
Farewel fond easie Maid.

V.
At this I blush’d, and angry grew
I should a God believe;
And waking found my Dream too true;                              35
Alas I was a Slave.

NOTES:

3 Astrea “Goddess of justice and virtue” (Dictionary of Classical Mythology).  Also Behn’s poetic name for herself.

6 Cupid “God of love” (OED).

13 Myrtles “Various evergreen shrubs or small trees” (OED).

14 Diana “Goddess of wild animals and the hunt” (Britannica).

15 Amyntas Here a pastoral name for a swain.

16 Pinion’d “Clipped wings” (OED).

22 Swain “Country lover” (OED).

29 Fetters Restraints (OED).

SOURCE: Poems upon Several Occasions: With A Voyage to the Island of Love (London 1684), pp. 78-80. [Google Books]

Edited by Madina Tutakhil

William Blake, “A War Song to Englishmen”

WILLIAM BLAKE

“A War Song to Englishmen”

Prepare, prepare, the iron helm of war,
Bring forth the lots, cast in the spacious orb;
Th’ Angel of Fate turns them with mighty hands,
And casts them out upon the darken’d earth!
Prepare, prepare.                                  5

Prepare your hearts for Death’s cold hand! prepare
Your souls for flight, your bodies for the earth!
Prepare your arms for glorious victory!
Prepare your eyes to meet a holy God!
Prepare, prepare.                                 10

Whose fatal scroll is that?  Methinks ‘tis mine!
Why sinks my heart, why faultereth my tongue?
Had I three lives, I’d die in such a cause,
And rise, with ghosts, over the well-fought field.
Prepare, prepare.                                  15

The arrows of Almighty God are drawn!
Angels of Death stand in the low’ring heavens!
Thousands of souls must seek the realms of light,
And walk together on the clouds of heaven!
Prepare, prepare.                                   20

Soldiers, prepare! Our cause is Heaven’s cause;
Soldiers, prepare! Be worthy of our cause:
Prepare to meet our fathers in the sky:
Prepare, O troops, that are to fall to-day!
Prepare, prepare.                                    25

Alfred shall smile, and make his harp rejoice;
The Norman William, and the learned Clerk,
And Lion Heart, and black-brow’d Edward, with
His loyal queen shall rise, and welcome us!
Prepare, prepare.                                   30

NOTES:

26 Alfred Alfred the Great (849-899), King of Wessex, 871-899, “a Saxon kingdom in southwestern England. He prevented England from falling to the Danes” (Britannica).

27 William William the Conqueror (c. 1028-1087), the first Norman King of England, ruled as William I from 1066 (Britannica); Clerk Probably a reference to Lanfranc (c. 1005-1089), “archbishop of Canterbury and trusted councellor of William” (Britannica).

28 Lion Heart King Richard I (1157-1199) reigned from 1189 to 1199, known for his “prowess in the Third Crusade (1189-1192” (Britannica); Edward King Edward IV (1442-1483), reigned “from 1461-1470, and again from April 1471-1483).”  He was a leading orchestrator of the Wars of the Roses (Britannica).

29 His loyal queen King Edward IV secretly married Elizabeth Woodville (1437-1492) in 1464.  She was a daughter of Lancastrians, which angered the Yorkists during the Wars of the Roses (Britannica).

SOURCE: Poetical Sketches (London 1783), pp. 58-59.  [Google Books]

Edited by Grae Zimmerman

Anonymous, “Second Thoughts are Best”

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ANONYMOUS

 “Second Thoughts are Best”

Sung by Mrs. WRIGHTEN at VAUXHALL.
Composed by Mr. Hook.

Come list to me, ye gay and free,
And ye whom cares molest,
War, Wine, and Love, but tend to prove,
That second Thoughts are best!
The Queen of Charms, the God of Arms,                                            5
Gay Bacchus and the rest,
When ask’d ne’er flounce, but all pronounce
That second Thoughts are best!

The jealous boy, if Daphne’s coy,
‘Gainst Cupid will protest;                                                              10
His nymph disdain, then think again;
For second Thoughts are best!
The fair-one too, unus’d to woo,
Drives Henry from her breast,
Then seeks the elf, makes love herself,                                               15
For second Thoughts are best!

And Mars, who doats on scarlet coats,
I’m sure will stand the test,
Nor frowns on her, who dares aver,
That second Thoughts are best!                                                        20
E’en Neptune too, our fleet in view,
Kept Gallia’s fleet in Brest,
They meant to fight, he put them right—
Their second Thoughts are best!

Again but mark the tippling spark,                                                          25
When feated as a guest,
At first resign his darling wine,
But second Thoughts are best!
And you, I see, will side with me,
Some, louder than the rest,                                                               30
Will cry, no more, and then encore,
But second Thoughts are best!

 NOTES:

 Subtitle Mrs. Wrighten Mary Ann Wrighten (1751-1796) English singer, actress, and composer in the eighteenth century (Wikipedia); Vauxhall Eighteenth-century London pleasure garden, located on the south bank of the River Thames, that hosted many forms of entertainment such as art, poetry and music (“Vauxhall Gardens” Wikipedia); Mr. Hook James Hook (1746-1827), English composer and organist who performed regularly at Vauxhall Gardens for forty-six years (Wikipedia).

 6 Bacchus The god of wine; “hence, wine, intoxicating liquor” (OED).

 9 Cupid God of love.

 17 Mars God of war.

 21 Neptune God of freshwater and the sea.

 22 Gallia’s fleet The French navy; Gaul is the ancient name for the region which today includes France, Belgium, and Luxenbourg.

25 Tippling Habitual alcohol use (OED).

Source: The Gentlemen’s Magazine (July, 1781) p. 334.

Edited by Fernando Mendoza

Anonymous, “Kitty”

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ANONYMOUS

  “Kitty”
To the tune of, What tho’ I am a country lass.

Of all the girls in our street,
There’s none like charming Kitty;
She is so lovely fair and sweet,
So exquisitely pretty.
That all the beaux, where’er she goes,                                   5
Portest they all adore her;
A girl so fair, so debonair,
Was never seen before her.
Whene’er she speaks, or smiles, or moves,
Or when she sweetly sings, sir,                                       10
Ten thousand little sportive loves
For pleasure Slap their wings, sir.
Then who can shun so sweet a snare,
Or chuse but to adore her?
A girl so fair, so debonair                                                         15
Was never seen before her.
The lilly whiteness of her hand,
The sparkling of her eye—Sir,
That face which none can look upon,
And Cupid’s power defy,—sir,                                            20
With all these charms and beauties blest,
In spite of all my art—sir,
Sh’ has pierc’d, alas! my lovesick breast,
And stole away my heart—sir,

The rest of this Song is lost.

NOTES:

 Title What tho’ I am a country lass An early seventeenth-century ballad, possibly written by Martin Parker, and collected in William Thomson’s Orpheus Caledonius (London, 1725), p. 85.

5 Beaux “Fashionable men” (OED).

7 Debonair “Of gentle disposition, mild, gracious, kindly” (OED).

4 Chuse Variant spelling of “choose” (OED).

20 Cupid’s “In Roman Mythology, the god of love” (OED).

SOURCE: The Gentleman’s Magazine (December 1740), p. 619. [J. Paul Leonard Library]

Edited by Masaki Kaneko

[Charlotte Lennox], “A Song”

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                                 [CHARLOTTE LENNOX]

                                         “A Song”

I.

In Vain I strive with Female Art,
To hide the Motions of my Heart;
My Eyes my secret Flame declare,
And Damon reads his Triumph there.

II.

When from his fond, his ardent Gaze,                             5
With Frowns I turn aside my Face;
My Cheeks with conscious Blushes glow,
And all my Soul’s Disorder show.

III.

Or when with seeming Scorn I hear
The Youth his tender vows prefer;                                    10
From my fond Breast reluctant steals
A sign, and all the Truth reveal.

IV.

Oh, Love, all-powerful  o’er the Mind,
Art thou, to rigid rules confin’d?
And must the heart that owns thy sway,                          15
That Tyrant Customs Laws obey?

V.

Oh! let me break the cruel Chain,
And freely own my tender Pain:
By harsh Restraint no longer sway’d,
Confirm whate’er my Eyes have said.                                 20

NOTES:

 1 Female Art Artifice; “the action of an artificer; the making of something by art or skill (OED).

4 Damon A male figure from Greek mythology that represents a good friend, mate, or cherub (Johnson).

16 Tyrant Customs Laws Laws that are based on traditional, or customary practice; habitual behavior. Often personified by women poets in this period as a “tyrant” because oppressive to women generally.

Source: Poems on Several Occasions (London, 1747), pp. 56-60. [Google Books]

Edited by Larica Fantasia Jacko