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[My]1 spirit is too weak; mortality Weighs heavily on me like unwilling sleep, And each imagined pinnacle and steep Of godlike hardship tells me I must die, Like a sick eagle looking towards the sky. Yet 'tis a gentle luxury to weep, That I have not the cloudy winds to keep Fresh for the opening of the morning's eye. Such dim-conceived glories of the brain Bring round the heart an indescribable feud; So do these wonders a most dizzy pain, That mingles Grecian grandeur with the rude Wasting of old Time -- with a billowy main, A sun, a shadow of a magnitude.
C. Ives sets lines 1-5
G. Bachlund sets lines 1-5
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Text Authorship:
- by John Keats (1795 - 1821), "On seeing the Elgin Marbles for the first time" [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Like a sick eagle", 1985, lines 1-5 [ medium voice and piano ], from Three Little Americana Songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Charles Edward Ives (1874 - 1954), "Like a sick eagle", 1920, published 1921, lines 1-5 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Roger Guy Steptoe (b. 1953), "On seeing the Elgin Marbles", 1976, first performed 1978 [ tenor and piano ], from Five Songs for Tenor and Piano [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Jean-Pierre Granger) , "En contemplant les marbres d'Elgin pour la première fois", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Beim ersten Sehen der Parthenon Friese", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Tamás Rédey) , copyright © 2015, (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: 14
Word count: 103
Mein Geist, er ist zu schwach; Vergänglichkeit, schwer lastet sie auf mir wie ungewollter Schlaf , und jede Zinne, jedes eingekerbte Tal gottgleicher Mühsal kündet mir die Sterblichkeit, wie ein gebroch'ner Adler, dessen Blick zum Himmel steigt. Ein kleiner Luxus ist's jedoch, zu weinen, dass ich nicht Wolk' und Wind auf's Neu muss einen bis sich der Sonne Aug' am Morgenhimmel zeigt. Solch vag' erfasste Glorien der Geisteskraft entfachen tief im Herzen unsagbaren Streit wie auch dies Wunder Qual und Taumel schafft, die griechische Erhabenheit vermengen mit antiker Zeit Entheiligung --- mit einem Meere, launenhaft, und einer Sonne, einem Schatten von Erhabenheit.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2013 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
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Based on:
- a text in English by John Keats (1795 - 1821), "On seeing the Elgin Marbles for the first time"
This text was added to the website: 2013-04-10
Line count: 14
Word count: 101