Miri it is while sumer ilast

Details

Description

Transcribed by Al Cofrin
Performed and recorded by Dr. Stephen Duncan

“Mirie it is while sumer ilast” (“Merry it is while summer ylast”) is a Middle English song of the first half of the 13th century. It is about the longing for summer in the face of the approaching cold weather. It is one of the oldest songs in the English language, and one of the few examples of non-liturgical music from medieval England. The manuscript was found together with two old French songs in a book of Psalms in the Bodleian Library.

The text and melody are incomplete on a single, damaged manuscript page, which, together with the somewhat ambiguous notation, makes it difficult to reconstruct the song in whole. It is unclear whether the song originally contained additional lines or stanzas, which Harrison considers probable, nor can the final word be conclusively determined. The author of the song is also unknown, although by its inclusion with two other French love songs pasted in a Book of Psalms. The context of the piece also may suggest the surviving leaf was originally included in a French chansonnier, suggesting an origin in the French tradition.

[M]irie it is while sumer ilast
with fugheles song.
oc nu necheth windes blast
and w[ed]er strong.
Ey ey what this nicht [is] long.
And ich with wel michel wrong
soregh and murne and [fast.]

Modern Spelling

Merry it is while summer ylast
With fowl’s song.
Oc now nigheth wind’s blast
And weather strong.
Ay, ay! What this night is long.
And I with well mickle wrong
Sorrow and mourn and fast.

Modern English

Merry it is while summer lasts
With fowl’s song.
But now nears the wind’s blast
And weather strong.
Oh, oh! How this night is long!
And I with very much wrong
Sorrow and mourn and fast.