Much madness is divinest sense To [a]1 discerning eye; Much sense the starkest madness. 'Tis the majority In this, as all, prevails. Assent, and you are sane, Demur, - you're straightaway dangerous, And handled with a chain.
Three Emily Dickinson Songs
Song Cycle by Jules Langert (b. 1932)
1. Much madness is divinest sense  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1890
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Langert : "the"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
2. The spider holds a silver ball  [sung text checked 1 time]
The Spider holds a Silver Ball In unperceived Hands -- And dancing softly to Himself His Yarn of Pearl -- unwinds -- He plies from Nought to Nought -- In unsubstantial Trade -- Supplants our Tapestries with His -- In half the period -- An Hour to rear supreme His [Continents]1 of Light -- Then dangle from the Housewife's Broom -- His [Boundaries]2 -- forgot --
Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Bolts of Melody
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Langert: "theories"
2 Langert: "sophistries"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
3. The heart asks pleasure first  [sung text checked 1 time]
The heart asks pleasure - first, And then excuse from pain. And then those little anodynes That deaden suffering. And then, to go to sleep; And then, if it should be The will of its Inquisitor, The liberty to die.
Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1890
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Le Cœur réclame le Plaisir - d'abord", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission