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My one man, my two men shall mow me down my meadows, My three men, my four men shall carry my grass away, My four, my three, my two, my one, nay not mo, For to mow my hay and carry it away On a beautiful midsummer's day. In The Idiom of the People (1958), James Reeves revisited the manuscripts of the folklorist Cecil Sharp to produce a selection of traditional English verse undiluted by early twentieth-century propriety. The Everlasting Circle (1960), his successor volume, takes a similarly faithful approach to the folk-verse collections of Sabine Baring-Gould, H. E. D. Hammond and George B. Gardiner. Restored to their original vitality, the lyrics assembled here sing out joyfully and strong. Songs familiar to us still - 'The Cuckoo', 'The Carpenter's Wife - sit alongside lesser-known verse in a vibrant collection of England's folk heritage.
About the author
James Reeves (1909-78) was a poet, educationalist and folklorist. He read English at Cambridge University, where he co-founded the influential literary magazine Experiment with Jacob Bronowski. After university, he forged a successful career in teaching, but failing eyesight forced him to retire in 1952, whereupon he became a full-time writer and editor. His other publications include Collected Poems, 1929-1974, Complete Poems for Children (1973), and, with Martin Seymour-Smith, Inside Poetry (1970).
Summary
My one man, my two men shall mow me down my meadows, My three men, my four men shall carry my grass away, My four, my three, my two, my one, nay not mo, For to mow my hay and carry it away on a beautiful midsummer's day.
