1. The poem is the tenth in The Fourth Booke of Divine Fancies (1632).

2. resembling an elegy, lugubrious.

1. ‘My beloved is mine, and I am his’ paraphrases a line from the Song of Solomon, and the poet follows the medieval tradition of addressing Christ as a lover; the possible homo-erotic dimensions of the poem will not be lost on the modern reader, however, and Britten’s interest in the poem clearly reflects his own relationship with Peter Pears. The work was written for the Dick Sheppard Memorial Concert and first performed at Central Hall, Westminster, on 1 November 1947.