When daffodils begin to peer

 When daffodils begin to peer -
 	With heigh! The doxy over the dale -
 Why, then comes the sweet o' the year;
 	For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale.

 The white sheet bleaching on the hedge -
 	With heigh! The sweet birds, O how they sing!
 Doth set my pugging tooth on edge;
	For a quart of ale is a dish for a king.

 The lark, that tirra-lirra chants,
 	With heigh! with heigh! The thrush and the jay,
 Are summer songs for me and my aunts,
 	While we lie tumbling in the hay.

[ But shall I go mourn for that, my dear?
 	The pale moon shines by night:
 And when I wander here and there,
	I then do most go right.

 Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way,
 	And merrily hent the stile-a:
 A merry heart goes all the day,
	Your sad tires in a mile-a. ]1

by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) , no title, from A Winter's Tale, Act IV, Scene 3

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Marc Blitzstein (1905-1964) , "Shepherd's song", published 1958 [low voice, piano], from Six Elizabethan Songs, no. 2.
by John Ireland (1879-1962) , "When daffodils begin to peer", 1903, from Songs of a Wayfarer, no. 2.
by Roger Quilter (1877-1953) , "When daffodils begin to peer", op. 30 no. 2.

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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