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by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)
Translation by Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853 - 1912)

Arethusa
Language: English 
Arethusa arose
From her couch of snows
In the Acroceraunian mountains, --
From cloud and from crag,
With many a jag, 
Shepherding her bright fountains.
She leapt down the rocks,
With her rainbow locks
Streaming among the streams; --
Her steps paved with green
The downward ravine
Which slopes to the western gleams;
And gliding and springing
She went, ever singing,
In murmurs as soft as sleep; 
The Earth seemed to love her,
And Heaven smiled above her,
As she lingered towards the deep.

Then Alpheus bold,
On his glacier cold, 
With his trident the mountains strook;
And opened a chasm
In the rocks--with the spasm
All Erymanthus shook.
And the black south wind
It unsealed behind
The urns of the silent snow,
And earthquake and thunder
Did rend in sunder
The bars of the springs below.
And the beard and the hair
Of the River-god were
Seen through the torrent's sweep,
As he followed the light
Of the fleet nymph's flight
To the brink of the Dorian deep.

'Oh, save me! Oh, guide me!
And bid the deep hide me,
For he grasps me now by the hair!'
The loud Ocean heard, 
To its blue depth stirred,
And divided at her prayer;
And under the water
The Earth's white daughter
Fled like a sunny beam;
Behind her descended
Her billows, unblended
With the brackish Dorian stream: --
Like a gloomy stain
On the emerald main
Alpheus rushed behind, --
As an eagle pursuing
A dove to its ruin
Down the streams of the cloudy wind.

Under the bowers
Where the Ocean Powers
Sit on their pearled thrones;
Through the coral woods
Of the weltering floods,
Over heaps of unvalued stones; 
Through the dim beams
Which amid the streams
Weave a network of coloured light;
And under the caves,
Where the shadowy waves
Are as green as the forest's night: --
Outspeeding the shark,
And the sword-fish dark,
Under the Ocean's foam,
And up through the rifts 
Of the mountain clifts
They passed to their Dorian home.

And now from their fountains
In Enna's mountains,
Down one vale where the morning basks, 
Like friends once parted
Grown single-hearted,
They ply their watery tasks.
At sunrise they leap
From their cradles steep 
In the cave of the shelving hill;
At noontide they flow
Through the woods below
And the meadows of asphodel;
And at night they sleep 
In the rocking deep
Beneath the Ortygian shore; --
Like spirits that lie
In the azure sky
When they love but live no more. 

Text Authorship:

  • by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "Arethusa", written 1820, first published 1824 [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 Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946), "Arethusa", published 1927 [ 6-part women's chorus a cappella ], no. h. 12276 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Franz Carl Bornschein (1879 - 1948), "Arethusa", published 1926 [ soprano, SSA chorus, and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Ellen Dickson (1819 - 1878), as Dolores, "Arethusa", published 1861 [ voice and piano ], London [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Roberto Ascoli ( flourished 1891-1930 ) , "Aretusa" ; composed by Ottorino Respighi.
      • Go to the text.

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

  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Arethusa"


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2005-01-30
Line count: 90
Word count: 414

Arethusa
Language: Czech (Čeština)  after the English 
    Arethusa vstala
        se sněhu, kde spala,
hor Akrokeraunských na oblasti,
        z mraků a stěn skalných,
        z tříště srázů valných
své potoky jasné v důl šla pásti.
        Přes balvany v skoku
        spěla středem toků,
šla s duhovým na své skrání vlasem,
        svěžím vzplála mechem
        sráz pod jejím spěchem
se k západu chýlíc, kde plál jasem:
        vzpjala se, tu klesla,
        zpívajíc se vznesla
hymnu šeptajíc luzný jak sen pěla,
        zem k ní láskou plála,
        obloha se smála,
co k propasti podél skalin spěla.

        Na svojí kře ledné
        Alpheus se zvedne,
svým trojzubcem do hor buší divě,
        propast otevírá
        ve skalách, že šírá
stráň chvěje se v Erymanthské nivě.
        Černý vítr jihu
        pozvednul se v mihu
za urnami tichých sněhů skrytý,
        zachvěla se země
        a hrom zařval temně,
v dví podzemních zdrojů pukly štíty.
        Boha vlas i brada
        v ručeji jenž padá,
se mihnuly, s vlnou v tom se snoubí,
        zařvou stopou víly,
        jak spěl ze vší síly
až ku kraji Dórské strže k hloubi.

        Ukryj mne v té strži,
        již mne za vlas drží.
„Ó chraniž mne! spas mne!“ žalně kvílí.
        V modré hloubce hne se
        Ocean a vzpne se
v pláč její se dělí v této chvíli.
        Země dcera bílá
        pod vodou se skryla,
jak sluneční paprsk znikla skokem,
        vlny její za ní
        nesmísíly ani
se s dorickým slaným mořským tokem.
        Jako skvrna tmavá
        v moře smaragd vstává,
hle, Alfeus! za ní dolů sletí,
        orel vítězící
        jak za holubicí
hřmí zbloudilou vichrů mračných změtí.

        Loubím letí noci,
        Oceanu Moci
kde na trůnech z perlí sedí v slávě,
        korálů hřmí lesy,
        proudy dál v skal tesy,
kde třpytí se drahokamy žhavě;
        skrz paprsky šeré,
        mezi toky steré,
jež barevné sítě světla tkají,
        pod jeskyně siné,
        tam kde vlny stinné
jsou zelené jako noc v hustém háji.
        Letí před žralokem,
        před mečounem, skokem
pod hlubinou mořských spějí lomů,
        až hor skulinami
        moře pod vlnami
v pláň Dorickou přijdou zase domů.

        Enny na pohoří
        z vřídel svých se noří
do údolí, jitrem jež se směje;
        druzi rozloučení,
        v svorném pochopení
za jediným cílem řek pouť spěje.
        Sotva slunce vstává,
        již tok v běh se dává,
jde z kolébek v tesích skalných svahů;
        o poledni vinou
        lesní tiší stinnou
skrz lučiny asfodelem dráhu:
        v noci pak spí spolu
        v hlubých skalin kolu,
kde duní proud Ortygie divý,
        druhové dva, kteří
        v azurové šeři
se milují, nejsou však víc živí.

Confirmed with SHELLEY, P. B. Výbor lyriky, translated by Jaroslav Vrchlický, Praha: J. Otto, 1901, pages 55-58.


Text Authorship:

  • by Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853 - 1912), "Arethusa" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "Arethusa", written 1820, first published 1824
    • 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: 2019-07-25
Line count: 90
Word count: 395

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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