by William Sharp (1855 - 1905), as Fiona Macleod
Let loose the hounds of war
Language: English
Let loose the hounds of war, The whirling swords! Send them leaping afar, Red in their thirst for war; Odin laughs in his car At the screaming of the swords! Far let the white-ones fly, The whirling swords! Afar off the ravens spy Death-shadows cloud the sky. Let the wolves of the Gael die 'Neath the screaming swords! The Shining Ones yonder High in Valhalla Shout now, with thunder: Drive the Gaels under, Cleave them asunder -- Swords of Valhalla!
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View text with all available footnotesText Authorship:
- by William Sharp (1855 - 1905), as Fiona Macleod, "The War-Song of the Vikings", appears in From the Hills of Dream, 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 Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, Sir (1883 - 1953), "Viking-Battle-Song", 1905 [ voice and piano ], from Two Songs for Voice and Orchestra, no. 1, originally set for voice and orchestra, a version that has been lost [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884 - 1920), "The War-Song of the Vikings", 1914 [ male voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-08-18
Line count: 18
Word count: 79