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The sea is calm to-night, The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straights; -- on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! Only, from the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanch'd land, Listen! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in. Sophocles long ago Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea. The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world. Ah, love, let us be true To one another! for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- by Matthew Arnold (1822 - 1888), "Dover Beach", appears in New Poems, first published 1867 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Samuel Barber (1910 - 1981), "Dover Beach", op. 3, published 1936 [ medium voice, string quartet ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Alan Bullard (b. 1947), "The Sea of Faith", 1995, first performed 1995 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Edward Toner Cone (b. 1917), "Dover Beach", 1941 [ baritone, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robin Field (b. 1935), "Dover Beach", 1971 [ alto and violoncello ], from Hearth-Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by Bernard H. Gilmore (b. 1937), "Dover Beach", 1971 [ soprano, clarinet, violin, viola, violoncello ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Murray Goodhart (1866 - 1941), "Dover Beach", published 1911 [ voice, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alva Henderson (b. 1940), "Dover Beach", first performed 1968 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jack Marius Jarrett (b. 1934), "Dover Beach", 1957 [ baritone, orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Maurice Johnstone (1900 - 1976), "Dover Beach", published 1947 [ voice, piano or orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Martin Kalmanoff (1920 - 2007), "Dover Beach", 1942 [ voice, piano or string quartet ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joseph Kaufer (1909 - 1990), "Dover Beach", published 1951 [ voice and piano ], from Dover Beach and Other Songs, no. 2, Waukegan, Illinois: Lyric-Art [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Robert Russell (b. 1933), "Dover Beach", 1965 [ voice, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Dover Beach", <<1899, note: this setting has been lost. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Frederick Woltmann (b. 1908), "From Dover Beach", 1938 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , "Der Strand von Dover", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Peter Duyster
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 37
Word count: 258
Die See ist still heut' Nacht. Die Flut ist voll, der Mond fällt schön die Meereseng' entlang. An Frankreichs Strand erwacht ein Licht - und blinkt, vergeht. Die Klippen Englands stehn im Schimmer breit in unbewegter Bucht. Zum Fenster, komm! Sanft ist die Luft der Nacht! Nur dort, wo in dem langen Schaumstrich sucht die See das mondgebleichte Land - Hör zu! - dort tönt das reibende Geräusch der Kiesel, rückgesaugt von Wellen, die verrinnen und wiederkehrn, geschleudert an den Strand beginnen, fliehn und wiederum beginnen: Im langen Rhythmus, breit und bebend bringen sie ew'ge Trauertöne in das Land. Dem Sophokles, vor langer Zeit, hat das Ägä'sche Meer geraunt in seinen Sinn, wie trüb sich Flut an Ebbe reiht von Menschenweh - auch wir, die wir gelauscht, erkennen im Geräusche die Idee, im fernen Norden, hier, an ferner See. Die See des Glaubens war einst auch voll, und war dem Erdenrund ein lichter Gürtel, der die Falten schwellt. Doch höre ich zu uns'rer Zeit, nur traurig Dröhnen, das im langen Schwund zurück sich zieht - dort, wo der Nachtwind fällt hinab die Klippen, trostlos breit, und in die nackten Strände dieser Welt. Drum laß, mein Lieb, uns beide treu zusammenstehn - denn dieser Weltenraum, der aufzutun sich scheint wie Land im Traum, so vielgestalt, so schön, so neu, hat wirklich weder Freud, noch Lieb, noch Lichterpracht, noch Sicherheit, noch Ruh, noch Schmerzerlasz; und wir stehn hier wie auf dem dunklen Paß, wo, voll verwirrten Rufs von Flucht und Schlacht, sich Heere blind bekriegen in der Nacht.
Translator's notes:
Authorship:
- Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2008 by Walter A. Aue, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Walter A. Aue.  Contact: waue (AT) dal (DOT) ca
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Based on:
- a text in English by Matthew Arnold (1822 - 1888), "Dover Beach", appears in New Poems, first published 1867
This text was added to the website: 2008-06-01
Line count: 37
Word count: 256