by Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant (1594 - 1661)
Translation by Katherine Philips (1631 - 1664)
O solitude, my sweetest choice
Language: English  after the French (Français)
Available translation(s): GER
O solitude, my sweetest choice! Places devoted to the night, Remote from tumult and from noise, How ye my restless thoughts delight! O solitude, my sweetest choice! O heav'ns! what content is mine To see these trees, which have appear'd From the nativity of time, And which all ages have rever'd, To look today as fresh and green As when their beauties first were seen. O, how agreeable a sight These hanging mountains do appear, Which th' unhappy would invite To finish all their sorrows here, When their hard fate makes them endure Such woes as only death can cure. O, how I solitude adore! That element of noblest wit, Where I have learnt Apollo's lore, Without the pains to study it. For thy sake I in love am grown With what thy fancy does pursue; But when I think upon my own, I hate it for that reason too, Because it needs must hinder me From seeing and from serving thee. O solitude, O how I solitude adore!
The first stanza comes from stanza 1 of the original French text; the second stanza comes from stanza 3, lines 5-10; and the third stanza comes from the final stanza of the original.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Authorship:
- by Katherine Philips (1631 - 1664) [an adaptation] [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant (1594 - 1661), "O folz des folz, et les folz mortelz hommes"
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Henry Purcell (1658/9 - 1695), "O solitude, my sweetest choice", Z. 406, published 1684/5 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Beate Binnig) , "Oh Einsamkeit, meine süßeste Wahl!", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2003-11-21
Line count: 28
Word count: 169