Shadow and light both strove to be The eight bell-ringers' company, As with his gliding rope in hand, Counting his changes each did stand; While rang and trembled every stone, To music by the bell-mouths blown: Till the bright clouds that towered on high Seemed to re-echo cry with cry. Still swang the clappers to and fro, When, in the far-spread fields below, I saw a ploughman with his team Lift to the bells and fix on them His distant eyes, as if he would Drink in the utmost sound he could; While near him sat his children three, And in the green grass placidly Played undistracted on: as if What music earthly bells might give Could only faintly stir their dream, And stillness make more lovely seem. Soon night hid horses, children, all, In sleep deep and ambrosial. Yet, yet, it seemed, from star to star, Welling now near, now faint and far, Those echoing bells rang on in dream, And stillness made even lovelier seem.
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Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "The bells", appears in The Listeners and Other Poems, first published 1912 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889 - 1960), "The Bells", op. 14 (Two Songs) no. 2 (1918), published 1920 [ voice and piano ], from Five Songs, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 26
Word count: 167