[ ... ]
O man! hold thee on in courage of soul
Through the stormy shades of thy wordly way,
And the billows of clouds that around thee roll
Shall sleep in the light of a wondrous day,
Where hell and heaven shall leave thee free
To the universe of destiny.
Six choral songs to be sung in time of war
Song Cycle by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958)
1. A song of courage  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "On death"
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Na smrt"
2. A song of liberty  [sung text checked 1 time]
Life may change, but it may fly not; Hope may vanish, but can die not; Truth be veiled, but still it burneth; Love repulsed, - but it returneth! Yet were life a charnel, where Hope lay coffined with Despair; Yet were Truth a sacred lie, Love were lust -- If Liberty Lent not life its soul of light, Hope its iris of delight, Truth its prophet's robe to wear, Love its power to give and bear.
Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), no title, appears in Hellas
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Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail3. A song of healing  [sung text checked 1 time]
Love, from its awful throne of patient power
In the wise heart, from the last giddy hour
Of dread endurance, from the slippery, steep,
And narrow verge of crag-like agony, springs
And folds over the world its healing wings.
[ ... ]
Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), no title, appears in Prometheus Unbound, excerpt
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View original text (without footnotes)1 omitted by Dyson and Vaughan Williams in Symphony #7
2 Dyson: "assume"
3 omitted by Vaughan Williams in Symphony #7
Research team for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail , Harry Joelson
4. A song of victory  [sung text checked 1 time]
To suffer woes which hope thinks infinite; To forgive wrongs darker than death or night; To defy power which seems omnipotent; To love and bear; to hope till hope creates From its own wreck the thing it contemplates; Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent; This, like thy glory, Titan, is to be Good, great, and joyous, beautiful and free; This is alone Life, Joy, Empire, and Victory.
Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), no title, appears in Prometheus Unbound
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Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail5. A song of pity, peace, and love  [sung text checked 1 time]
O Spirit vast and deep as Night and Heaven! Mother and soul of all to which is given The light of life, the loveliness of being, Lo! thou dost re_ascend the human heart, Thy throne of power, almighty as thou wert In dreams of Poets old grown pale by seeing The shade of thee; -- now, millions start To feel thy lightnings through them burning: Nature, or God, or Love, or Pleasure, Or Sympathy the sad tears turning To mutual smiles, a drainless treasure, Descends amidst us; -- Scorn and Hate, Revenge and Selfishness are desolate -- A hundred nations swear that there shall be Pity and Peace and Love, among the good and free!
Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), no title, appears in The Revolt of Islam, Canto 5, part 51.2
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Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail6. A song of the new age  [sung text checked 1 time]
The world's great age begins anew, The golden years return, The earth doth like a snake renew Her winter weeds outworn: Heaven smiles, and faiths and empires gleam, Like wrecks of a dissolving dream. A brighter Hellas rears its mountains From waves serener far; A new Peneus rolls his fountains Against the morning star. Where fairer Tempes bloom, there sleep Young Cyclads on a sunnier deep. Another Athens shall arise, And to remoter time Bequeath, like sunset to the skies, The splendour of its prime; And leave, if nought so bright may live, All earth can take or Heaven can give. Oh, cease! must hate and death return? Cease! must men kill and die? Cease! drain not to its dregs the urn Of bitter prophecy. The world is weary of the past, Oh, might it die or rest at last!
Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "The world's great age begins anew", appears in Hellas
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Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail