Here, in this little Bay,
Full of tumultuous life and great repose,
Where, twice a day,
The purposeless, glad ocean comes and goes,
Under high cliffs, and far from the huge town,
I sit me down.
For want of me the world's course will not fail:
When all its work is done, the lie shall rot;
The truth is great, and shall prevail,
[When]1 none cares whether it prevail or not.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Chilcott: "Where"

Text Authorship:

• by Coventry (Kersey Dighton) Patmore (1823 - 1896), "Magna est veritas", appears in The Unknown Eros and other Odes I-XXI, first published 1877 [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 John H. Ashton (b. 1938), "Magna est veritas", 1973, first performed 1973 [ baritone, SSA chorus, flute, alto saxophone, trumpet, horn, and piano ], from Songs from "The Unknown Eros" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Robert Chilcott (b. 1955), "The Truth is Great", 2008 [ chorus and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by John Edmunds (1913 - 1986), "Magna est veritas", 1935-60, published 1975 [ voice and piano ], from Hesperides: Fifty Songs by John Edmunds -- or The Fortunate Isles [sung text not yet checked]

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

• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Lidy van Noordenburg) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Lidy van Noordenburg

This text was added to the website: 2008-09-11
Line count: 10
Word count: 71