by Geoffrey Chaucer (c1343 - 1400)
Your yën two wol sle me sodenly
Language: Middle English
Your yën two wol sle me sodenly,
I may the beaute of hem not sustene,
So woundeth hit through-out my herte kene.
And but your word wol helen hastily
My hertes wounde, whyl that hit is grene,
Your yën two wol sle me sodenly;
may the beaute of hem not sustene.
Upon my trouthe I sey yow feithfully,
That ye ben of my lyf and deth the quene;
For with my deth the trouthe shal be sene.
Your yën two wol sle me sodenly,
I may the beaute of hem not sustene,
So woundeth hit through-out my herte kene.
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Text as set by Vaughan Williams:
Your eyën two will slay me suddenly: I may the beauty of them not sustene, So woundeth it throughout my hertë ken. And but your word will helen hastily My hertës woundë, while that it is green, Your eyën two will slay me suddenly: I may the beauty of them not sustene, Upon my troth I say to you faithfully, That ye be my life and death the queen, For with my death the truthë shall be seen: Your eyën two will slay me suddenly: I may the beauty of them not sustene, So woundeth it throughout my hertë kene.
Text Authorship:
- by Geoffrey Chaucer (c1343 - 1400), "Captivity", appears in Merciles Beaute: A Triple Roundel, no. 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 Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, Sir (1883 - 1953), "Roundel", 1914, published 1919 [ voice and piano ], from Album of Seven Songs [or Seven Selected Songs], no. 7, from Three Rondels, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Geoffrey Bush (1920 - 1998), "Merciless Beauty", 1987 [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956), "Rondel", 1920 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "Merciles Beaute: I", 1925 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Your eyën two", 1921 [ soprano or tenor, 2 violins, violoncello ], from Merciless Beauty, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Harald Genzmer.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 99