'Tis time, I think, by Wenlock town

'Tis time, I think, by Wenlock town
  The golden broom should blow;
The hawthorn sprinkled up and down
  Should charge the land with snow.

Spring will not wait the loiterer's time
  Who keeps so long away;
So others wear the broom and climb
  The hedgerows heaped with may.

Oh tarnish late on Wenlock Edge,
  Gold that I never see;
Lie long, high snowdrifts in the hedge
  That will not shower on me.

by Alfred Edward Housman (1859-1936) , no title, from A Shropshire Lad, no. 39, published 1896

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

by Thomas Henry Wait Armstrong (1898-?) , "'Tis time, I think, by Wenlock town", published 1934. [three-part chorus of children's or women's voices and piano]
by Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, Sir (1891-1975) , "'Tis time, I think, by Wenlock town"
by David Branson (1909-) , "The unseen Spring", published 1939. [voice and piano]
by William Parks Grant (1910-) , "'Tis time, I think", op. 7 (A Shropshire Lad) no. ? [tenor and piano]
by Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) , "'Tis time, I think, by Wenlock town", published 1923 [tenor, string quartet, and piano], from Ludlow and Teme, no. 3.
by Janet Hamilton , "'Tis time, I think, by Wenlock town", published 1919. [high voice and piano]
by John Ireland (1879-1962) , "Hawthorn Time", published 1920. [voice and piano]
by John Ireland (1879-1962) , "Spring will not wait", published 1928 [tacet - piano solo], from We'll to the woods no more, no. 3.
by John Jeffreys (1927-) , "'Tis time, I think, by Wenlock town"
by Ernest John Moeran (1894-1950) , "'Tis time, I think, by Wenlock town", published 1926. [baritone and piano]
by Charles Wilfred Orr (1893-1976) , "'Tis time, I think, by Wenlock town", published 1923 [tenor and piano], from Two Songs from "A Shropshire Lad", no. ?
by Freda Swain (1902-) , "'Tis time, I think, by Wenlock town", 1925, rev. 1973 [tenor and piano ensemble], from The Lost Heart, no. ?

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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