by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)
Grand is the seen, the light, to me ‑‑...
Language: English
Grand is the seen, the light, to me -- grand are the sky and stars, Grand is the earth, and grand are lasting time and space, And grand their laws, so multiform, puzzling, evolutionary; But grander far the unseen soul of me, comprehending, endowing all those, Lighting the light, the sky and stars, delving the earth, sailing the sea, (What were all those, indeed, without thee, unseen soul? of what amount without thee?) More evolutionary, vast, puzzling, O my soul! More multiform far -- more lasting thou than they.
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Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "Grand is the seen" [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 Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "Grand is the seen", c1930, published 1930 [voice and piano or orchestra], from Songs at Parting: A Selection of Walt Whitman's Poems, no. 1. [text verified 1 time]
- by Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "The Unseen Soul" [text not verified]
- by Peter Pindar Stearns (b. 1931), "Grand is the Seen" [SATB chorus a cappella] [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2004-05-30
Line count: 8
Word count: 87