I died for beauty | I died for beauty, but was scarce

I died for beauty, but was scarce

Language: English

Available translation(s): GER GER

I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I failed?
"For beauty," I replied.
"And I for truth, - the two are one;
We brethren are," he said.

And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship:

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1890 [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "I died for beauty ", 2010 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Of Time and Eternity, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "I died for beauty", alternate title: "Air", c1990 [sung text not yet checked]
by Robert F. Baksa (b. 1938), "I died for beauty", published 1977, from Emily Dickinson Songs, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by Fania Chapiro (1926 - 1994), "I died for beauty", 1988, from Three songs of death, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by Henry Leland Clarke (1907 - 1992), "I died for beauty", 1963 [ medium voice, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Norman Dinerstein (b. 1937), "I died for beauty", published 1961 [ soprano and string quartet ], from Four Settings for Soprano and String Quartet, no. 4, New York, Boosey & Hawkes [sung text not yet checked]
by Harris Lindenfeld (b. 1945), "I died for beauty, but was scarce" [ soprano, e flat clarinet, and piano ], from 3 Dickinson Songs [sung text not yet checked]
by Simon Sargon (b. 1938), "I died for beauty", 2000 [ voice and piano ], from Intimations of Mortality, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 71