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Poetry · Poem

It was a Lover and his Lass

William ShakespeareEnglish RenaissancePoem
SOURCE TEXT · English original
IT was a lover and his lass,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
That o’er the green corn-field did pass,
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

Between the acres of the rye,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
These pretty country folks would lie,
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

This carol they began that hour,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
How that life was but a flower
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

And, therefore, take the present time
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
For love is crownèd with the prime
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.
Cultural reading

Reading the poem

Across four refrain-bound stanzas, a pair of lovers crossing the green corn-fields and rye is described singing a carol that life is but a flower and that the present time should be taken.

Language notes

Text and edition

The heading is the poem's first line, used as an anthology first-line identifier rather than an authorial title.