Thomas Weelkes

Rating: 4.67
Rating: 4.67

Thomas Weelkes Poems

The ape, the monkey and baboon did meet,
And breaking of their fast in Friday street,
Two of them swore together solemnly
In their three natures was a sympathy.
...

Tomorrow is the marriage day
Of Mopsus and fair Philida.
Come shepherds, bring your garlands gay.
...

Thule, the period of cosmography,
Doth vaunt of Hecla, whose sulphureous fire
Doth melt the frozen clime and thaw the sky;
Trinacrian Etna's flames ascend not higher:
...

Hark, all ye lovely saints above,
Diana hath agreed with Love,
His fiery weapon to remove. Fa la.
Do you not see
...

Cease sorrows now,
for you have done the deed,
lo care hath now consum'd
my carcase quite,
...

Come sirrah Jack ho,
Fill some tobacco,
Bring a wire and some fire,
Haste haste away,
...

Thomas Weelkes Biography

Believed to be the son of a clergyman Weelkes was born on the 25th October 1576, at Elstead, Surry. He was educated in New College, Oxford, and in 1598 became the organist of Winchester College. It was here that he composed some of his greatest madrigals, which appeared in two volumes published in 1598 and 1600. He graduated from New College in 1602 and was appointed organist and master chorist at Chichester Cathedral, until he was eventually dismissed for drunkenness and profanity of language. Nearly 100 of his madrigals survive today, many still in use in christian services, including Hosanna to the son of David. Upon his death on the 3rd November 1623, Joseph Kerman declared:- "A society that can allow a talent of this kind to go to waste while poets best forgotten flourish can hardly be considered a healthy one from a musical point of view.")

The Best Poem Of Thomas Weelkes

The Ape, The Monkey, And Baboon

The ape, the monkey and baboon did meet,
And breaking of their fast in Friday street,
Two of them swore together solemnly
In their three natures was a sympathy.

Nay, quoth baboon,
I do deny that strain:
I have more knavery in me
than you twain.

Why, quoth the ape, I have a horse at will
In Paris Garden for to ride on still,
And there show tricks. Tush, quoth the monkey,
For better tricks in great men's houses lie.

Tush, quoth baboon,
when men do know I come,
For sport from city, country
they will run.

Thomas Weelkes Comments

Thomas Weelkes Popularity

Thomas Weelkes Popularity

Close
Error Success