Nature
Sumer Is Icumen In
From Reading Abbey manuscript (British Library, Harley 978)
Sumer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweth sed, and bloweth med,
And springth the wude nu--
Sing cuccu!
Awe bleteth after lomb,
Lhouth after calve cu;
Bulluc sterteth, bucke verteth,
Murie sing cuccu!
Cuccu, cuccu, well singes thu, cuccu:
Ne swike thu naver nu;
Sing cuccu, nu, sing cuccu,
Sing cuccu, sing cuccu, nu!
Codex Note
The ‘Cuckoo Song’, copied at Reading Abbey in the thirteenth century with music for a round in four voices over a two-voice ground. Only the English words are given here. Text from Quiller-Couch’s Oxford Book of English Verse (1900).
Cite this poem
MLA
Anonymous (Middle English). “Sumer Is Icumen In.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-middle-english/1/.
Chicago
Anonymous (Middle English). “Sumer Is Icumen In.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-middle-english/1/.
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