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by Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)
Translation by Dezső Kosztolányi (1885 - 1936)

A white mist drifts across the shrouds
Language: English 
A white mist drifts across the shrouds, 
A wild moon in this wintry sky 
Gleams like an angry lion's eye 
Out of a mane of tawny clouds. 

The muffled steersman at the wheel 
Is but a shadow in the gloom; - 
And in the throbbing engine-room 
Leap the long rode of polished steel. 

The shattered storm has left its trace 
Upon this huge and heaving dome, 
For the thin threads of yellow foam 
Float on the waves like ravelled lace.

About the headline (FAQ)

Appeared in Our Continent, Feb. 1882 as one of the Impressions


Text Authorship:

  • by Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), "La Mer" [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 Miranda Al-Raad (b. 1988), "La Mer", 2010 [ voice and guitar ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884 - 1920), "La Mer", A. 41 (1916), published 1970 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Four Impressions, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884 - 1920), "La Mer", A. 29 (1912) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Harold Vincent Jervis-Read (1883 - 1945), "The Sea", published 1911 [ voice and piano ], from Four Impressions, no. 4, also set in a German translation by Maurice Fanshawe [sung text not yet checked]
  • by David Morris (b. 1964), "La Mer", 2002 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Impressions, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Dezső Kosztolányi) , "La mer"


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 79

La mer
Language: Hungarian (Magyar)  after the English 
A téli ég fehér ködén 
bámul a hold a vízre le, 
mint bősz oroszlán vad szeme, 
körötte rőt felleg-sörény.

Keréknél kormányos tanyáz, 
egy árny az árnyban és kutat, 
ugrálnak az acélrudak, 
zörög a gép és dörg a ház.

Zúg a vihar a vízbe kint,
amint megy a nagy, lomha dóm
s a sárga tajték hallgatón
mint omló-bomló csipke ring.

Text Authorship:

  • by Dezső Kosztolányi (1885 - 1936), "La mer" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English by Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), "La Mer"
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

    [ None yet in the database ]


Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2019-07-21
Line count: 12
Word count: 59

Gentle Reminder

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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