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by William Blake (1757 - 1827)

The voice of the Bard
 (Sung text for setting by J. Mitchell)
 See original
Language: English 
Hear the voice of the Bard!
Who Present, Past, and Future see;
Whose ears have heard
the Holy Word
That walked among the ancient trees,

Calling the lapsed Soul 
And weeping in the evening dew
That might control
the starry pole,
And fallen, fallen light renew!

"O earth, O earth, return!
Arise from out the dewy grass;
Night is worn, 
and morning
rises from the slumbering mass.

"Turn away no more;
Why wilt thou turn away?
The starry floor,
the watery shore,
Is given thee till break of day."

Composition:

    Set to music by John Mitchell (b. 1941), "The voice of the Bard", op. 25 no. 1 (1977), from Visions from the Flame, no. 1

Text Authorship:

  • by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Introduction", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 1, first published 1794

See other settings of this text.


Researcher for this page: Victoria Brago

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 91

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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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