| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909. | | | | Song: ‘I love the jocund dance’ | | By William Blake (1757–1827) |
| | | I LOVE the jocund dance, | |
| The softly-breathing song, | |
| Where innocent eyes do glance, | |
| And where lisps the maiden’s tongue. | |
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| I love the laughing vale, | 5 |
| I love the echoing hill, | |
| Where mirth does never fail, | |
| And the jolly swain laughs his fill. | |
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| I love the pleasant cot, | |
| I love the innocent bow’r, | 10 |
| Where white and brown is our lot, | |
| Or fruit in the mid-day hour. | |
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| I love the oaken seat, | |
| Beneath the oaken tree, | |
| Where all the old villagers meet, | 15 |
| And laugh our sports to see. | |
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| I love our neighbours all, | |
| But, Kitty, I better love thee; | |
| And love them I ever shall; | |
| But thou art all to me. | 20 | | | |
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