by William Blake (1757 - 1827)
Sound! sound! my loud war‑trumpets, and...
Language: English
"Sound! sound! my loud war-trumpets, and alarm my Thirteen Angels! "Loud howls the eternal Wolf! the eternal Lion lashes his tail! "America is darken'd and my punishing demons terrified, "Crouch howling before their caverns deep, like skins dry'd in the wind. "They cannot smite the wheat, nor quench the fatness of the earth; "They cannot smite with sorrows nor subdue the plough and spade; "They cannot wall the city, nor moat round the castle of princes; "They cannot bring the stubbed oak to overgrow the hills; "Sound! sound! my loud war-trumpets, and alarm my Thirteen Angels! "Loud howls the eternal Wolf! the eternal Lion lashes his tail! "For terrible men stand on the shores, and in their robes I see "Children take shelter from the lightnings: there stands Washington "And Paine and Warren with their foreheads rear'd toward the east. "Sound! sound! my loud war-trumpets, and alarm my Thirteen Angels! "Loud howls the eternal Wolf! the eternal Lion lashes his tail!" Thus wept the Angel voice, and as he wept, the terrible blasts Of trumpets blew a loud alarm across the Atlantic deep.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), written 1793, appears in America: a Prophecy [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 Colin Eatock (b. 1958), "Sound! sound! my loud war-trumpets, & alarm my Thirteen Angels!
", 1987 [bass-baritone and piano], from Three Songs from Blakeâs "America", no. 2. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2013-09-26
Line count: 17
Word count: 183