by William Blake (1757 - 1827)
Cruelty has a human heart
Language: English
Cruelty has a human heart, And Jealousy a human face, Terror the human form divine, And Secrecy the human dress. The human dress is forgèd iron, The human form a fiery forge, The human face a furnace seal'd, The human heart its hungry gorge.
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Text Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "A divine image", written 1791-4, possibly intended for Songs of Experience [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 William Bolcom (b. 1938), "A divine image", 1956-81 [solo voices, chorus, and orchestra], from Songs of Experience, Volume Two, no. 16. [text not verified]
- by Norman Curtis (b. 1933), "A divine image", c1959 [voice and piano], from William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, no. 28. [text not verified]
- by Bernard Sidney Garte (1923 - 1953), "A divine image", c1946 [voice and piano], from Eight Songs of William Blake, no. 6. [text not verified]
- by Margo Lynn Greene (b. 1948), "A divine image", 1972 [mezzo-soprano and orchestra], from Five Songs for Mezzo-Soprano and Orchestra, no. 5. [text not verified]
- by John H. Harbison (b. 1938), "A divine image", 1971, published c1975, first performed 1973 [four soli, SATB chorus, string quartet, and percussion], from Five Songs of Experience, no. 5, New York, Associated Music Publishers [text not verified]
- by Frank Lewin (1925 - 2008), "A divine image", published 1960, first performed 1961 [soprano and chamber ensemble], from Innocence and Experience, no. 7, New York, American Composers Alliance [text not verified]
- by Michael Richard Miller (b. 1932), "A divine image", 1965 [tenor, bass, and 2 baritone soli, TTBB chorus, and piano], from Blasphemies of Blake, no. 10. [text not verified]
- by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Cruelty has a human heart", 1957, published 1958 [voice and oboe], from Ten Blake Songs, no. 8. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 44