by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)
Tears! tears! tears!
Language: English
Tears! tears! tears! In the night, in solitude, tears, On the white shore dripping, dripping, suck'd in by the sand, Tears, not a star shining, all dark and desolate, Moist tears from the eyes of a muffled head; O who is that ghost? that form in the dark, with tears? What shapeless lump is that, bent, crouch'd there on the sand? Streaming tears, sobbing tears, throes, choked with wild cries; O storm, embodied, rising, careering with swift steps along the beach! O wild and dismal night storm, with wind - O howling and desperate! O shade so sedate by day, with calm countenance and steady pace, But away at night as you fly, none looking - O then the unloosen'd ocean, Of tears! tears! tears!
K. Hartmann sets lines 1-5
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "Tears" [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 Norman Dello Joio (1913 - 2008), "Tears", published 1966 [ SATB chorus and piano or orchestra ], from Songs of Walt Whitman [sung text not yet checked]
- by James R. Hanna (b. 1922), "Tears", published 1967 [ voice, viola, and piano ], from Night [sung text not yet checked]
- by Roy Harris (1898 - 1979), "Tears", published 1939 [ mixed chorus a cappella ], from Symphony for Voices [sung text not yet checked]
- by Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905 - 1963), "Tears", 1936, lines 1-5 [ alto and orchestra ], from Symphony No. 1, Versuch eines Requiems, no. 3, revised 1955 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Joseph Kaufer (1909 - 1990), "Tears", published 1951 [ voice and piano ], from The Man with the Hoe and Other Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by Klaus Miehling , "Tears", op. 294 no. 5 (2019) [ voice and piano ], from Sieben Lieder nach Walt Whitman, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir (1852 - 1924), "Tears! tears! tears!", alternate title: "Tears", op. 97 no. 5 (1906), published 1908 [ voice and piano ], from Six Songs of Faith, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Joelle Wallach (b. 1946), "Tears", published 1976 [ SSAATTBB chorus a cappella ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Wolfgang Wijdeveld (1910 - 1985), "Tears", 1949, published 1949 [ medium voice, violin, viola, clarinet, and piano ], from Drie liederen, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 125