Below the thunders of the upper deep
Language: English
Available translation(s): CAT FRE
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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1 Britten: "men"
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
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
Language: Catalan (Català)  after the English
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:
This text was added to the website: 2016-03-29
Line count: 15
Word count: 113