by Wallace Stevens (1879 - 1955)
The Dove in Spring
Language: English
Brooder, brooder, deep beneath its walls-- A small howling of the dove Makes something of the little there, The little and the dark, and that In which it is and that in which It is established. There the dove Makes this small howling, like a thought That howls in the mind or like a man Who keeps seeking out his identity In that which is and is established...It howls Of the great sizes of an outer bush And the great misery of the doubt of it, Of stripes of silver that are strips Like slits across a space, a place And state of being large and light. There is this bubbling before the sun, This howling at one's ear, too far For daylight and too near for sleep.
Authorship:
- by Wallace Stevens (1879 - 1955), "The Dove in Spring" [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 Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "The Dove in Spring", 1972, first performed 1972 [ soprano, cello, and piano ], from Last Poems of Wallace Stevens, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-11-03
Line count: 18
Word count: 128