by Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)
Sonnet to Liberty
Language: English
Not that I love thy children, whose dull eyes See nothing save their own unlovely woe, Whose minds know nothing, nothing care to know,— But that the roar of thy Democracies, Thy reigns of Terror, thy great Anarchies, Mirror my wildest passions like the sea,— And give my rage a brother——! Liberty! For this sake only do thy dissonant cries Delight my discreet soul, else might all kings By bloody knout or treacherous cannonades Rob nations of their rights inviolate And I remain unmoved—and yet, and yet, These Christs that die upon the barricades, God knows it I am with them, in some things.
Text Authorship:
- by Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), "Sonnet to Liberty", first published 1881 [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 Christopher Berg (b. 1949), "Sonnet to Liberty", first performed 1999 [ voice and piano ], from Two Oscar Wilde Sonnets [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2023-06-20
Line count: 14
Word count: 104