Diaphenia, like the daffadowndilly,
White as the sun, fair as the lily,
  Heigh ho, how I do love thee!
I do love thee as my lambs
Are belovèd of their dams:
  How blest were I if thou would'st prove me.

Diaphenia, like the spreading roses,
That in thy sweets all sweets [incloses]1,
  Fair sweet, how I do love thee!
I do love thee as each flower
Loves the sun's life-giving power;
  For dead, thy breath to life might move me.

Diaphenia, like to all things blessèd,
When all thy praises are expressèd,
  Dear joy, how I do love thee!
As the birds do love the spring,
Or the bees their careful king, --
  Then in requite, sweet virgin, love me!

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Argento, Browne, Moeran, and Stanford use the spelling "encloses"

Text Authorship:

• possibly by Henry Constable (1562 - 1613), "Damelus' song to Diaphenia" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
• possibly by Henry Chettle (c1564 - c1607), "Damelus' song to Diaphenia" [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 Dominick Argento (1927 - 2019), "Diaphenia", 1957, published 1970 [ high voice and piano ], from 6 Elizabethan Songs, no. 5, New York, Boosey [sung text checked 1 time]
• by William Denis Browne (1888 - 1915), "Diaphenia", 1912 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Geoffrey Bush (1920 - 1998), "Diaphenia", 1944 [ baritone and piano ], from Five Spring Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ernest Bristow Farrar (1885 - 1918), "Diaphenia", op. 38 (Two Songs) no. 1, published 1921 [ tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950), "Diaphenia", R. 72 (1937), published 1937 [ voice and piano ], Winthrop Rogers [sung text checked 1 time]
• by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "Diaphenia", op. 220 (1949) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "Diaphenia", op. 524 (1958) [sung text not yet checked]
• by Harold E. Samuel (1924 - 1999), "Diaphenia" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir (1852 - 1924), "Diaphenia", op. 49 no. 3, published 1892 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Six Elizabethan Pastorals, no. 3, London, Novello [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FRE French (Français) (Tim Palmer) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 119