by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)
The world's great age See base text
Language: English
The world's great age begins anew,
The golden years return,
The earth doth like a snake renew
Her winter weeds outworn:
Heaven smiles, and faiths and empires gleam,
Like wrecks of a dissolving dream.
A brighter Hellas rears its mountains
From waves serener far;
A new Peneus rolls his fountains
Against the morning star.
Where fairer Tempes bloom, there sleep
Young Cyclads on a sunnier deep.
Another Athens shall arise,
And to remoter time
Bequeath, like sunset to the skies,
The splendour of its prime;
And leave, if nought so bright may live,
All earth can take or Heaven can give.
...
Composition:
- Set to music by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "The world's great age", c1925, stanzas 1-3 [ voice and piano ]
Text Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "The world's great age begins anew", appears in Hellas
See other settings of this text.
Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail
This text was added to the website: 2005-12-31
Line count: 24
Word count: 140