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Three Poems of Byron

Song Cycle by Graeme Koehne

1. Stanzas for music  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
There be none of Beauty's daughters
  With a magic like thee;
And like music on the waters
  Is thy sweet voice to me:
When, as if its sound were causing
The [charmèd]1 ocean's pausing,
The waves lie still and gleaming,
And the lull'd winds seem dreaming:

And the midnight moon is weaving
  Her bright chain o'er the deep;
Whose breast is gently heaving
  As an infant's asleep:
So the spirit bows before thee,
To listen and adore thee;
With a full but soft emotion,
Like the swell of Summer's ocean.

Text Authorship:

  • by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824), "Stanzas for music", appears in Poems, first published 1816

See other settings of this text.

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Sloky pro hudbu"
  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Alexis Paulin Pâris) , "Stances à mettre en musique"
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Fra tutte le più belle", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Mendelssohn: "charm'd"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. To Woman  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Woman! experience might have told me,
That all must love thee who behold thee:
Surely experience might have taught
Thy firmest promises are nought:
But, placed in all thy charms before me,
All I forget, but to adore thee.
Oh memory! Thou choicest blessing
When join'd with hope, when still possessing;
But how much cursed by every lover
When hope is fled and passion's over.
Woman, that fair and fond deceiver,
How throbs the pulse when first we view
The eye that rolls in glossy blue,
Or sparkles black, or mildly throws
A beam from under hazel brows!
How quick we credit every oath,
And hear her plight the willing troth!
Fondly we hope't will last for aye,
When, lo! she changes in a day.
This record will for ever stand,
'Woman, thy vows are traced in sand.'

Text Authorship:

  • by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824), "To Woman"

Go to the general single-text view

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

3. She walks in beauty  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
She walks in beauty, like the night 
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright 
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light 
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
 
One shade the more, one ray the less, 
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress, 
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express 
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow, 
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow, 
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below, 
A heart whose love is innocent.

Text Authorship:

  • by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824), "She walks in beauty", appears in Hebrew Melodies, no. 1

See other settings of this text.

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Alexis Paulin Pâris) , "Elle marche pareille en beauté", appears in Mélodies hébraïques, no. 1
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "In Schönheit geht sie", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Ella incede in bellezza", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 348
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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