Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Lieder aus den Liederbüchern des elisabethanischen Zeitalters
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You will love this if you enjoy short poems you can read aloud, if lute songs and madrigals draw you in, or if you like shepherds, sailors, fairies and lovers.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
What would it feel like to sit in a room in 1588, the year of the Spanish Armada, and hear singers praise a man who rules a whole kingdom inside his own head? That is the year William Byrd published the first important English songbook. It began a rush of printed songs that gave England some of its sweetest short poems.
This anthology gathers the words of those songs. A. H. Bullen edited it, searching the old songbooks in the British Museum library for poems most readers had never met. You will meet madrigals, lute songs, rounds and comic ballads about love, beauty, a quiet mind and life as a play.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1Bullen hunts the songbooks for lost poemsFree
- 2Byrd begins the age and prizes a quiet mind
- 3Dowland's lute songs give sorrow a sweet voice
- 4Campion writes both the words and the music
- 5Madrigals and airs sing of lovers, shepherds and May
- 6Love is a boy, a tyrant and a joke
- 7Life is a play, and the simple life is best
- 8Rounds, dances and comic ballads fill out the book
Punkt 1 von 8
Bullen hunts the songbooks for lost poems
A. H. Bullen begins with a plain claim. In the years around 1600, English composers published songbooks, and the poems inside them are good enough to stand alone. Some match, in neat finish, the shortest and finest poems of the Greek Anthology. Few readers knew this, because the verse lay buried in old music books.
So he went looking. He examined every old songbook in the British Museum library. He admits that a first attempt of this kind must be imperfect.
Why did these songs read so well? In Elizabeth's time composers did not treat words as mere pegs for the music. They sought out true lyric poets. A reader today can meet the poetry without a note of the tune.
Bullen keeps back many humorous ditties, and he does not judge the music. He opens the book with one poem by an unknown author, from a book of airs by Captain Tobias Hume in 1605. It tells those who call love bitter that they do love wrong.
The book rests on one idea, that the words of these songs deserve to be read as poems.
That’s 1 of 8 key points.
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About 2 h 40 min to read.Starten Sie 90 Tage kostenlosPaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 37,900 words
- Reading timeAbout 2 h 40 min
Questions about Lieder aus den Liederbüchern des elisabethanischen Zeitalters
What is Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age about?
It collects the words of songs printed in English songbooks around 1600, by composers such as Byrd, Dowland, Morley, Weelkes and Campion. The poems cover love, loss, contentment, country life and playful rounds.
Who was Thomas Campion?
Campion was a composer, poet, doctor and masque writer who wrote both words and music for his songs. Bullen praises him as a lyric poet of the first rank, and the anthology includes many of his best poems.
What is a madrigal or a fa la la?
A madrigal is a song for several voices, and a ballet is a lighter, dancing kind. Fa la la is a nonsense refrain that singers join in on, and it marks the cheerful springtime songs.
Is the book easy to read?
The poems range from brief lyrics to longer songs and ballads, arranged by first line and headed with their source songbook and year. You can read a few at a time and enjoy each one alone.
Why are these Elizabethan songs still worth reading?
They give small, clear pictures of love, sorrow, country life and a calm mind in neat verse. Because they were meant to be sung, they also sound good when read aloud.
Cite this edition
Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/lyrics-from-the-song-books-of-the-elizabethan-age.
Lyrics from the song-books of the Elizabethan Age. (2026). Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lyrics-from-the-song-books-of-the-elizabethan-age
Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lyrics-from-the-song-books-of-the-elizabethan-age.
@book{anonymous2026lyrics,
title = {Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lyrics-from-the-song-books-of-the-elizabethan-age}
}
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