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by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 - 1889)

The world is charged with the grandeur of God
 (Sung text for setting by A. Bliss)
 Matches base text
Language: English 
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil 
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod? 
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil; 
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil 
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went 
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs -- 
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent   
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Composition:

    Set to music by Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, Sir (1891 - 1975), "The world is charged with the grandeur of God", op. 116 no. 1, F. 36 no. 1, published 1970 [ SATB chorus, 2 flutes, 3 trumpets, 4 trombones ], from The World is Charged with the Grandeur of God, no. 1

Text Authorship:

  • by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 - 1889), "God's Grandeur", appears in Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse, first published 1895

See other settings of this text.


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 125

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