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by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

Give to barrows, trays, and pans
Language: English 
Give to barrows, trays, and pans 
Grace and glimmer of romance; 
Bring the moonlight into noon 
Hid in gleaming piles of stone; 
On the city’s paved street 
Plant gardens lined with lilac sweet; 
Let spouting fountains cool the air, 
Singing in the sun–baked square; 
Let statue, picture, park, and hall, 
Ballad, flag, and festival, 
The past restore, the day adorn, 
And make each morrow a new morn. 
So shall the drudge in dusty frock 
Spy behind the city clock 
Retinues of airy kings, 
Skirts of angels, starry wings, 
His fathers shining in bright fables, 
His children fed at heavenly tables. 
’T is the privilege of Art 
Thus to play its cheerful part, 
Man in Earth to acclimate, 
And bend the exile to his fate, 
And, moulded of one element 
With the days and firmament, 
Teach him on these as stairs to climb, 
And live on even terms with Time; 
Whilst upper life the slender rill 
Of human sense doth overfill. 

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882), "Art", appears in Art in Essays: First Series [author's text not yet checked 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 Steven Ebel , "The privilege of art", 2008. [tenor, soprano, piano four-hands] [ sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2019-03-20
Line count: 28
Word count: 160

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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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