be the points of view, however varied the
character of the emotion, are of the same individual and reflective
class. Contrast now with these a third lyric, an English song of the
thirteenth century, preserved by some happy chance from the oblivion
which claimed most of its fellows; the casual reader would
unhesitatingly put it into the same class with Wordsworth's verses as
a lyric of "nature," of "joy," or what not,--an outburst of simple and
natural emotion. But if this 'Cuckoo Song' be regarded critically, it
will be seen that precisely those qualities of the individual and the
subjective are wanting. The music of it is fairly clamorous; the
refrain counts for as much as the verses; while the emotion seems to
spring from the crowd and to represent a community. Written down--no
one can say when it was actually composed--not later than the middle
of the thirteenth century, along with the music and a Latin hymn
interlined in red ink, this song is justly regarded by critics as
communal rather than artistic in its character; and while it is set
to music in what Chappell calls "the earliest secular composition, in
parts, known to exist in any country," yet even this elaborate music
was probably "a national song and tune, selected according to the
custom of the times as a basis for harmony," and was "not entirely a
scholastic composition." It runs in the original:--

Sumer is icumen in.
Lhude sing cuccu.
Groweth sed
And bloweth med
And springth the wde nu.
Sing cuccu.

Awe bleteth after lomb,
Lhouth after calve cu;
Bulluc sterteth,
Bucke verteth,
Murie sing cuccu.
Cuccu, cuccu.

Wel singes thu cuccu,
Ne swik thu naver nu.

BURDEN

Sing cuccu nu. Sing cuccu.
Sing cuccu. Sing cuccu nu.[1]

[1] For facsimile of the MS., music, and valuable remarks,
see Chappell, 'Ballad Literature and Popular Music of the
Olden Time,' Vol. i., frontispiece, and pages 21 ff.
For pronunciation, see A. J. Ellis, 'Early English
Pronunciation,' ii., 419 ff. The translation given by Mr.
Ellis is:--

"Summer has come in; loudly sing, cuckoo! Grows seed and
blossoms mead and springs the wood now. Sing, cuckoo! Ewe
bleats after lamb, lows after (its) calf the cow; bullock
leaps, buck verts (seeks the green); merrily sing, cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo! Well singest thou, cuckoo; cease thou not
never now. _Burden_.--Sing, cuckoo,