Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age — A Reader’s Guide

Structure and arrangement

The volume is organized by source, with lyrics grouped under the song-book from which they are taken. Each section is headed by the composer's name and publication date, such as 'From Thomas Morley's Canzonets, 1593' or 'From Robert Jones' First Book of Airs, 1601.' This arrangement allows readers to trace the development of the lyric within specific musical contexts. Bullen provides footnotes for textual variants and occasional explanatory notes, but the lyrics themselves are presented without modernized spelling, preserving Elizabethan forms like 'placèd' and 'failèd.'

Recurring images and motifs

Across the collection, certain images recur with notable frequency. The sun appears as a source of glory and warmth, as in 'the glorious sun' of the Satyrs' Dance, and as a symbol of fading favor in 'None adores the sun declining.' Birds—robins, starlings, and nightingales—are offered as gifts or emblems of love. The contrast between weeping and feasting, or between cold nights and warm beds, appears in several lyrics, such as 'I weep, and she's a-feasting!' and 'while these cold nights freeze me dead.'

Movement between scenes

Many lyrics enact a swift shift from despair to hope, or from rejection to renewed longing. In one poem, the speaker moves from 'Break, heart, and die' to 'Yet, see, she smiles! O see, some hope appears!' within a single stanza. Another lyric traces a lover's progression from questioning ('Shall a frown or angry eye?') to resolution ('No: beware of lovers' crying'). This dynamic movement mirrors the dramatic quality of the songs, which were likely performed with musical accompaniment that heightened the emotional transitions.

Voice and perspective

The lyrics employ a range of first-person voices: the hopeful suitor, the scorned lover, the playful observer. In 'Robin is a lovely lad,' the speaker catalogs multiple characters—Robin, Tommy, Tib, Jenny—before declaring 'Sib is all in all to me.' Other poems adopt a collective voice, as in the Satyrs' Dance with its repeated 'Ho, ho!' The variety of speakers, from courtly lovers to rustic satyrs, reflects the social breadth of Elizabethan song culture, where both refined and rustic registers coexisted.

Readers approaching this collection should attend to the interplay between text and implied music: the rhythms, repetitions, and refrains are designed for singing. Bullen's notes and index of first lines provide useful orientation, but the lyrics themselves reward slow reading aloud. The volume offers a concentrated view of a poetic tradition that valued wit, brevity, and emotional directness.

The rain kept time with Campion’s lute lines as I turned Bullen’s pages, my finger tracing the odd, crooked notes on textual variants. That afternoon, a stray footnote about courtly gardens sent me wandering elsewhere entirely—into The garden of desire — Story, Setting & Ideas, where the same green shadows seemed to wait, unhurried, for another reader’s quiet hour.