Thomas Ford Poems

Poems » thomas ford

Thomas Ford
Thomas Ford (c. 1580–November 17, 1648) was an English composer, lutenist, viol player and poet. He was attached to the court of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of James I, who died in 1612. He was musician to the household of Prince Henry from 1610 to 1612, musician to the household of Prince Charles 1617-1625, and musician to Charles I from 1626 to 1642, the outbreak of the English Civil War. He was buried in St. Margaret's, Westminster. Ford wrote anthems, for three to six voices; four sacred canons; 35 partsongs; six fantasias for five parts; and a few other pieces for viols. Most likely his most important collection was the Musicke of Sundrie Kindes (London, 1607), which was in two parts. The first book included lute ayres, described as "Aries for 4 voices to the Lute, Orphorion, or Basse-viol, with a Dialogue for two Voices..."; the second part contained dances such as "Pavens, Galiards, Almaines, Toies, Jigges, Thumpes, and such like..." scored for combinations of viols. Many of the ayres are given in two versions: one for voice or voices and lute, and another for four equal voices. An unusual feature of his music for viol is the occasional use of a sound effect: a heavy pizzicato "thump...with the first and second finger of the left hand according to the direction of the pricks."

"out, out--"
 
 
The buzz-saw snarled and rattled in the yard
And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of w... [read poem]
stopping by woods on a snowy evening
 
 
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see ... [read poem]
there is a lady sweet and kind
 
 
There is a lady sweet and kind,
Was never face so pleas'd my mind;
I did but see her passi... [read poem]
the road not taken
 
 
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler... [read poem]
birches
 
 
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I l... [read poem]
putting in the seed
 
 
You come to fetch me from my work to-night
When supper's on the table, and we'll see
If I ... [read poem]
the pasture
 
 
I'm going out to clean the pasture spring;
I'll only stop to rake the leaves away
(And wai... [read poem]
fire and ice
 
 
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire... [read poem]
the tuft of flowers
 
 
I went to turn the grass once after one
Who mowed it in the dew before the sun.

The... [read poem]
nothing gold can stay
 
 
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But... [read poem]
range-finding
 
 
The battle rent a cobweb diamond-strung
And cut a flower beside a ground bird's nest
Befor... [read poem]
good-bye, and keep cold
 
 
This saying good-bye on the edge of the dark
And cold to an orchard so young in the bark
R... [read poem]
dust of snow
 
 
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Has ... [read poem]
mending wall
 
 
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
... [read poem]
for once, then something
 
 
Others taunt me with having knelt at well-curbs
Always wrong to the light, so never seeing... [read poem]
the oven bird
 
 
There is a singer everyone has heard,
Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird,
Who makes th... [read poem]
the star-splitter
 
 
You know Orien always comes up sideways.
Throwing a leg up over our fence of mountains,
An... [read poem]
the death of the hired man
 
 
Mary sat musing on the lamp-flame at the table
Waiting for Warren. When she heard his step,... [read poem]
the wood-pile
 
 
Out walking in the frozen swamp one grey day
I paused and said, "I will turn back from here.... [read poem]
to e. t.
 
 
I slumbered with your poems on my breast
Spread open as I dropped them half-read through
L... [read poem]
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