by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)
In the wild October night‑time, when the...
Language: English
In the wild October night-time, when the wind raved round the land, And the Back-sea met the Front-sea, and our doors were blocked with sand, And we heard the drub of Dead-man's Bay, where bones of thousands are, We knew not what the day had done for us at Trafalgár. Had done, Had done, For us at Trafalgár. "Pull hard, and make the Nothe, or down we go", one says! says he. We pulled; and bedtime brought the storm; but snug at home slept we. Yet all the while our gallants after fighting through the day, Were beating up and down the dark, sou'-west of Cadiz Bay. The dark, The dark, Sou'-west of Cadiz Bay! The victors and the vanquished then the storm it tossed and tore, As hard they strove, those worn-out men, upon that surly shore; Dead Nelson and his half-dead crew, his foes from near and far, Were rolled together on the deep that night at Trafalgár! The deep, The deep, That night at Trafalgár!
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View text with all available footnotesText Authorship:
- by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), "Song: The Night of Trafalgár", appears in The Dynasts, Act V, Scene 6, first published 1903-8 [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 Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "The night of Trafalgar", 1913, published 1979 [ voice and piano ], revised 1924 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Cyril Meir Scott (1879 - 1970), "Trafalgar", op. 38 (Two Songs) no. 2, published 1904 [ voice and piano ], London : Boosey & Hawkes [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Boyton Smith (b. 1837), "In the wild October night-time", first performed 1912 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 21
Word count: 168