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by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)

Thy words are sweeter than aught else...
Language: English 
Thy words are sweeter than aught else but his
Whose echoes they are; yet all love is sweet,
Given or returned. Common as light is love,
And its familiar voice wearies not ever.
Like the wide heaven, the all-sustaining air,
It makes the reptile equal to the God;
They who inspire it most are fortunate,
As I am now; but those who feel it most
Are happier still, after long sufferings,
As I shall soon become.

My soul is an enchanted boat,
Which, like a sleeping swan, doth float
Upon the silver waves of thy sweet singing;
And thine doth like an angel sit
Beside a helm conducting it,
Whilst all the winds with melody are ringing.
It seems to float ever, forever,
Upon that many-winding river,
Between mountains, woods, abysses,
A paradise of wildernesses!
Till, like one in slumber bound,
Borne to the ocean, I float down, around,
Into a sea profound, of ever-spreading sound:

Meanwhile thy spirit lifts its pinions
In music's most serene dominions;
Catching the winds that fan that happy heaven.
And we sail on, away, afar,
Without a course, without a star,
But, by the instinct of sweet music driven;
Till through Elysian garden islets
By thee, most beautiful of pilots,
Where never mortal pinnace glided,
The boat of my desire is guided;
Realms where the air we breathe is love,
Which in the winds on the waves doth move,
Harmonizing this earth with what we feel above.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   J. Duke •   C. Stanford 

D. Thomas sets stanza 2
J. Duke sets stanza 2
C. Stanford sets stanzas 2-3

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), appears in Prometheus Unbound, lines of Asia from Act II scene V, lines 39-48 and 72-97. [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 Ellen Dickson (1819 - 1878), as Dolores, "My soul is an enchanted boat", published 1859 [ voice and piano ], London [sung text not yet checked]
  • by John Woods Duke (1899 - 1984), "My soul is an enchanted boat", 1934, published 1953, copyright © 1953, stanza 2 [ voice and piano ], Southern/Texas [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Katharine Emily Eggar (1874 - 1961), "My Soul is an enchanted boat" [ voice and piano or organ or piano quintet ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir (1852 - 1924), "The Song of Asia", op. 125 (Four songs) no. 2 (1911), published 1911, stanzas 2-3 [ voice and piano ], Stainer & Bell [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by David Evan Thomas (b. 1958), "Valediction", 1994, stanza 2 [ soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone and piano ], from Moonlight on a Midnight Stream, no. 10 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Maude Valérie White (1855 - 1937), "My soul is an enchanted boat", published 1883 [ voice and piano ], London: Chappell [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 36
Word count: 243

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