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It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
Translation © by Ferdinando Albeggiani

A solemn thing it was, I said
Language: English 
Our translations:  ITA
A solemn thing it was, I said,
A woman white to be,
And wear, if God should count me fit,
Her hallowed mystery.

A timid thing to drop a life
Into the purple well,
Too plummetless that it comes back
Eternity until.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, first published 1896 [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 Henry Mollincone (b. 1946), "A solemn thing it was", published 1966 [ SSAA chorus and piano or harp ], from Five Poems of Love [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Una cosa solenne sarebbe", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 42

Una cosa solenne sarebbe
Language: Italian (Italiano)  after the English 
Una cosa solenne sarebbe, io dissi,
essere una donna in bianco,
e indossare, se Dio mi stimasse degna,
il suo santo mistero.

Una cosa segreta gettare una vita
dentro il pozzo purpureo,
troppo insondabile perché torni indietro
fino all'Eternità.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2009 by Ferdinando Albeggiani, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in English by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, first published 1896
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2009-11-19
Line count: 8
Word count: 39

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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