To One in Paradise

By Edgar Allan Poe. The poem also goes by the titles, “To Ianthe in Heaven,” “To One Beloved,” and “To One Departed.” Written in 1833, and first published as part of the story “The Visionary,” later revised and re-titled “The Assignation.” That version included a fifth stanza, which Poe omitted when publishing the poem on …

Edgar Allan Poe

EDGAR ALLAN POE (1809-1849) was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His father and mother were actors, and they both died in the same week at Richmond when Edgar was but two years old. He was adopted by a kind-hearted Richmond merchant named Allan, who sent him to England to a school in Stoke Newington. On returning …

The Twa Corbies

A Scottish ballad, Child 26. In England, the song is known as The Three Ravens, and is much more optimistic. There the hounds and hawks keep the wild beasts away from their master until his lady arrives to bury him. Lang’s version is from Scott’s Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, “communicated by C. K. Sharp, …

Song (Orpheus with his Lute)

By William Shakespeare. From Henry VIII, Act III, Scene i. Sung by one of Queen Katherine of Aragon’s women. Orpheus is from Greek mythology, famous for his beautiful music and for his failed attempt to rescue his wife Eurydice from Hades.

Evening

By Sir Walter Scott. This is the original version of “County Guy.” From Scott’s 1817 or 1818 play, “The Doom of Devorgoil,” Act I, Scene i, where it is sung by the Baron of Devorgoil’s daughter Flora. Notes Colin. Standard name for a shepherd.

Lucy Ashton’s Song

By Sir Walter Scott. From The Bride of Lammermoor, chapter III, one of Scott’s darkest novels. Lucy sings it, but neither she nor her lover take its advice.

Song (Who is Silvia?)

By William Shakespeare. From The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act IV, Scene ii. Sung by a group of musicians under Silvia’s window.

Rose Aylmer

By Walter Savage Landor. Rose Aylmer (1779 -1800) was the daughter of Sir Henry Aylmer, 4th Lord Aylmer, and his wife Catherine Whitworth. Upon Sir Henry’s death, Catherine married one Howel Price and moved to Pembrokeshire, Wale, where Rose later met Landor. There may have been a romance beginning between them, but in 1798 Rose …

Walter Savage Landor

WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR (1775-1864) was the eldest son of a gentleman of ancient family in Warwickshire. He was a youth of impulsive and stubborn temper, and at Rugby and at Oxford was frequently in trouble with his superiors. In 1795 he published a small volume of poems, but his first considerable poem, Gebir, was published …

A Sea Dirge

By William Shakespeare From The Tempest, Act I, Scene ii, where it is sung by the spirit Ariel (invisible) to the shipwrecked Prince Ferdinand, to lure him to the cave of his master Prospero the enchanter. The song is about Ferdinand’s father, King Alonso, who his son thinks has been drowned in the shipwreck. When …