by
Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
A great Hope fell
Language: English
Our translations: FRE GER
A great Hope fell
You heard no noise
The Ruin was within
Oh cunning wreck that told no tale
And let no Witness in
The mind was built for mighty Freight
For dread occasion planned
How often foundering at Sea
Ostensibly, on Land
A not admitting of the wound
Until it grew so wide
That all my Life had entered it
And there were troughs beside
A closing of the simple lid
That opened to the sun
Until the tender Carpenter
Perpetual nail it down --
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-09-21
Line count: 17
Word count: 85
Hoffnung, einst groß
Language: German (Deutsch) after the English
Hoffnung, einst groß,
lautlos zerbarst -
tief in der Seele war’s,
mit List geschah’s, nichts drang hinaus,
und auch kein Zeuge sah’s.
Die Seel’, gebaut für Riesenfracht,
fürs Schrecklichste geplant,
wie oft sinkt sie auf hoher See
dem Anschein nach, an Land
die Wunde sich nicht eingestehn,
bis sie aufriss so weit,
dass all mein Sein darin verschwand
und Gräben noch zur Seit’,
dann senkte sich das reine Lid
das sich der Sonn’ auftat -
bis der bedachte Zimmermann
es zugenagelt hat.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2018-04-20
Line count: 17
Word count: 80
