To sea! | To sea, to sea! The calm is o'er

To sea, to sea! The calm is o'er

Language: English

To sea, to sea! The calm is o'er;
  The wanton water leaps in sport,
And rattles down the pebbly shore;
  The dolphin wheels, the sea-cows snort,
And unseen Mermaids' pearly song
Comes bubbling up, the weeds among.
  Fling broad the sail, dip deep the oar:
  To sea, to sea! the calm is o'er.
 
To sea, to sea! our wide-wing'd bark
  Shall billowy cleave its sunny way,
And with its shadow, fleet and dark,
  Break the cav'd Tritons' azure day,
Like mighty eagle soaring light
O'er antelopes on Alpine height.
  The anchor heaves, the ship swings free,
  The sails swell full. To sea, to sea!

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Text Authorship:

by Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803 - 1849), no title, appears in Death's Jest Book or The Fool's Tragedy, first published 1850 [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 Denis ApIvor (1916 - 2004), "To sea, to sea! the calm is o'er", 1954, first performed 1954 [ high voice and piano ], from Songs of Thomas Lovell Beddoes [sung text not yet checked]
by Edgar Leslie Bainton (1880 - 1956), "Mariner's song", published 1923 [ 2-part chorus and piano ], London : Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]
by George Frederick Broadhead (1883 - ?), "To sea!", published 1937 [ TTBB chorus a cappella ], London : Stainer & Bell [sung text not yet checked]
by Patrick Keen Enfield (b. 1929), "Mariner's song", published 1963 [ TTBB chorus a cappella ], London : G. Ricordi [sung text not yet checked]
by Shena Eleanor Fraser (1910 - 1993), "To sea", published 1972 [ soprano, tenor, SATB chorus, and piano ], from cantata Full Fathom Five, London : Thames [sung text not yet checked]
by Hugh McCleery , "To sea!", published 1958 [ TTBB chorus a cappella ], London : Novello [sung text not yet checked]
by Martin Edward Fallas Shaw (1875 - 1958), "To sea!", published 1930 [ voice and piano ], London : J. B. Cramer [sung text not yet checked]
by Eric Harding Thiman (1900 - 1975), "To sea! To sea!", published 1957 [ SSA chorus and piano ], from Six Sea Songs, London : Novello [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-04-28
Line count: 16
Word count: 104