by Geoffrey Chaucer (c1343 - 1400)
Sin I fro love escaped am so fat
Language: Middle English
Sin I fro love escaped am so fat,
I never thenk to ben in his prison lene;
Sin I am fre, I counte him not a bene.
He may answere, and seye this or that;
I do no fors, I speke right as I mene.
Sin I fro love escaped am so fat,
I never thenk to ben in his prison lene.
Love hath my name y-strike out of his sclat,
And he is strike out of my bokes clene
For ever-mo; [ther] is non other mene.
Sin I fro love escaped am so fat,
I never thenk to ben in his prison lene;
Sin I am fre, I counte him not a bene.
Explicit.
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Text as set by Vaughan Williams:
Since I from Love escapëd am so fat, I never think to ben in his prison lean; Since I am free, I count him not a bean. He may answer, and sayë this or that; I do not force, I speak right as I mean: Since I from Love escapëd am so fat, I never think to ben in his prison lean; Love hath my name y-strike out of his sciat, And he is stike out of my bookës clean For evermore; there is none other mean. Since I from Love escapëd am so fat, I never think to ben in his prison lean; Since I am free, I count him not a bean.
Text Authorship:
- by Geoffrey Chaucer (c1343 - 1400), "Escape", appears in Merciles Beaute: A Triple Roundel, no. 3 [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 Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Since I from love", 1921 [ soprano or tenor, 2 violins, violoncello ], from Merciless Beauty, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 115