The Poet's Life

”The Poet’s Life” is a song written by the English composer Edward Elgar in 1892, with words by the American poet Sophie Jewett (1861—1909) under the pseudonym of “Ellen Burroughs”.

The song was published as one of the ‘’Seven Lieder of Edward Elgar ‘’ (with English and German words) in 1907.

Lyrics

A poet sang, so light of heart was he,

. . .

There follow'd fame, and swiftly, swiftly there follow’d fame.

NOTES

 • There are about 20 lines of verse, of which only the first and last are shown.

 • We believe this text to be copyright under U. S. copyright law. We will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is in the public domain.

Recordings

• Songs and Piano Music by Edward Elgar has "The Poet's Life" performed by Mark Wilde (tenor), with David Owen Norris (piano).

References

• Kennedy, Michael, Portrait of Elgar (Oxford University Press, 1968) ISBN 0193154145