by William Blake (1757 - 1827)
The modest rose puts forth a thorn
Language: English
The modest rose puts forth a thorn, The humble sheep a threatening horn, While the lily white shall in love delight, Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.
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Text Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The lily", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 15, first published 1794 [author's text not yet checked 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 William Alwyn (1905 - 1985), "The lily", 1933, from Songs of Experience, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Rodney Ash (b. 1931), "The lily", 1972, from Songs of Experience, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "The lily", 1990 [ medium-high voice and piano ], from Three Blake Settings, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by William Bolcom (b. 1938), "The lily", 1956-81 [ solo voices, chorus, orchestra ], from Songs of Experience, Volume Two, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Norman Curtis (b. 1933), "The lily", c1959 [ voice and piano ], from William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, no. 24 [sung text not yet checked]
- by David Andross Farquhar (1928 - 2007), "The lily", 1947-9 [ voice and piano ], from Blake Songs, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ole Carsten Green (b. 1922), "The lily", op. 27a no. 15 (1973) [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 15 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alfred Matthew Hale (1875 - 1960), "The lily", op. 16 no. 11, published 1910 [ voice and piano ], from Twelve Songs, no. 11, London : A. Lengnick [sung text not yet checked]
- by Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874 - 1949), "The lilly", op. 13 (Seven songs) no. 7 (1913) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Eugene Hartzell (1932 - 2000), "The lily", 1969 [ medium voice and orchestra ], from Spring and Three Flowers, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Bo Holten (b. 1948), "The lily", 1969/73, first performed 1973 [ soprano and piano ], from 4 Engelske Sange, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Tõnu Kalam , "The lily ", 1966-7, first performed 1967 [ soprano and piano ], from A Garden of Experience, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Mary Margaret Kelly (b. 1957), "The lily ", 1984-5 [ SSA chorus a cappella ], from Six Songs for School Chorus, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joan Littlejohn (b. 1937), "The lily ", 1967-70, first performed 1971 [ voice and piano ], from Blakes Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul, Part II : Songs of Experience, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Otto Luening (1900 - 1996), "The lilly", 1984, first performed 1986 [ soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Wilfrid Howard Mellers (b. 1914), "The lily", 1973-4 [ four soli, three choruses, large orchestra and organ ], from Sun-flower -- The Quaternity of William Blake [sung text not yet checked]
- by Michael Richard Miller (b. 1932), "The modest rose puts forth a thorn", 1965, first performed 1966 [ SSA chorus and piano ], from Blake's Garden, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nailah Nombeko , "The Lily", 2019 [ soprano and piano ], from Short Songs to the Poetry of William Blake, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Austin Sykes (1909 - 1962), "The lily", c1931, first performed 1975 [ baritone and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 11 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 4
Word count: 31