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by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)
Translation by Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont (1867 - 1942)

Wake the serpent not ‑‑ lest he
Language: English 
Wake the serpent not -- lest he
Should not know the way to go, --
Let him crawl which yet lies sleeping
Through the deep grass of the meadow!
Not a bee shall hear him creeping, 
Not a may-fly shall awaken
From its cradling blue-bell shaken,
Not the starlight as he's sliding
Through the grass with silent gliding.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "Fragment: Wake the serpent not" [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 Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946), "Wake the serpent not (fragment)", published 1908 [ SATB chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont (1867 - 1942) , no title, subtitle: "Отрывок", first published 1903 ; composed by Mikhail Fabianovich Gnesin.
      • Go to the text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2005-01-30
Line count: 9
Word count: 56

Нет, не буди змею, — куда идти
Language: Russian (Русский)  after the English 
Нет, не буди змею, — куда идти,
Она тогда пожалуй не узнает, —
Дозволь ей, сонной, так во сне ползти,
Пока трава ночной росой блистает.
Она ползёт так тихо, что пчела
Её в безмолвном улье не услышит,
Ни мошка мая, что приют нашла
Внутри цветка, и в полумгле не дышит,
Ни звёздный свет, играющий собой,
Входящий в колокольчик голубой.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Перси Биши Шелли. Полное собрание сочинений / Перевод К. Д. Бальмонта — Новое переработанное изд., СПб.: Т-во «Знание», 1903, Т. 1., С. 96.


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Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

  • by Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont (1867 - 1942), no title, subtitle: "Отрывок", first published 1903 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "Fragment: Wake the serpent not"
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Mikhail Fabianovich Gnesin (1883 - 1957), "Нет, не буди змею" [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2021-05-28
Line count: 10
Word count: 59

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