by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank See base text
Language: English
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!
Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night
Become the touches of sweet harmony.
Look, how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold:
There's not the smallest orb that thou behold'st
But in his motion like an angel sings
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins;
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.
...
Composition:
- Set to music by Robert H. Young (1923 - 2011), "How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank", lines 1-12 [ SSAA chorus a cappella ]
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in The Merchant of Venice, Act V, Scene I
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo)
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 39
Word count: 233