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Below the thunders of the upper deep; Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea, His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee About his shadowy sides: above him swell Huge sponges of millenial growth and height; And far away into the sickly light, From many a wondrous grot and secret cell Unnumber'd and enormous polypi Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green. There hath he lain for ages and will lie Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep, Until the latter fire shall heat the deep; Then once by [man]1 and angels to be seen, In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Britten: "men"
Authorship:
- by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), "The Kraken", appears in Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, first published 1830 [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 (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Below the thunders of the upper deep", op. 60 no. 2, published 1959 [tenor, orchestra, bassoon], from Nocturne for tenor solo, seven obligato instruments and string orchestra, no. 2, note: also set in German in a translation by Ludwig Landgraf [ sung text verified 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Sota el renou del raser de l’oceà", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Jean-Pierre Granger)
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 108
Sota el renou del raser de l’oceà, lluny, lluny al fons del mar abismal, en un repòs antic, sense somnis ni destorbs, dorm el Kraken: la tènue llum del sol llisca al voltant dels seus flancs ombrívols: damunt seu, s’inflen esponges enormes de creixement i estatura mil·lenàries; i al lluny, en la pàl·lida llum, d’estranyes grutes i de cavitats secretes, innombrables, enormes pòlips garbellen amb els seus braços gegantins les algues endormiscades. Allà ha jagut per segles i hi jaurà, vivint a costa d’enormes verms de mar mentre dorm, fins quan el darrer foc abrusarà les profunditats; llavors, vist una única vegada per homes i àngels, sortirà bramulant a la superfície i morirà.
Authorship:
- Translation from English to Catalan (Català) copyright © 2016 by Salvador Pila, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
- a text in English by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), "The Kraken", appears in Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, first published 1830
This text was added to the website: 2016-03-29
Line count: 15
Word count: 113