At the round earth's imagin'd corners | At the round earth's imagined corners, blow

by John Donne (1572 - 1631)

At the round earth's imagined corners,...

Language: English

Our translations: FRE GER

At the round earth's imagined corners, blow 
Your trumpets, angels, and arise 
From death, you numberless infinities 
Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go,
All whom the flood did, and fire shall o'erthrow
All whom war, death, age, agues, tyrannies,
Despair, law, chance hath slain; and you whose eyes 
Shall behold God and never taste death's woe,
But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a space,
For, if above all these my sins abound,
'Tis late to ask abundance of Thy grace,
When we are there. Here on this lowly ground,
Teach me how to repent, for that's as good
As if [Thou hadst]¹ seal'd my pardon with Thy blood.

Available sung texts: ← What is this?

• B. Britten

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¹ Britten: "Thoud'st"

Text Authorship:

by John Donne (1572 - 1631), no title, appears in Holy Sonnets, no. 7 [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 Michael Berkeley (b. 1948), "At the round earth's imagin'd corners", c1980, first performed 1980 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Michael Berkeley (b. 1948), "At the round earth's imagin'd corners", 1982 [ soprano, baritone, chorus, organ, and optional trumpet ], anthem [sung text not yet checked]
by Howard Leake Boatwright (1918 - 1999), "At the round earth's imagin'd corners", 1954 [ voice and piano ], from Five Early Songs, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "At the round earth's imagin'd corners", op. 35 no. 7 (1945), published c1946 [ high voice and piano ], from The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, no. 7 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Geoffrey Burgon (b. 1941), "At the round earth's imagin'd corners", published 1971 [ soprano or tenor, trumpet, and organ ] [sung text not yet checked]
by John Eaton (1935 - 2015), "At the round earth's imagined corners", op. 1 no. 5, first performed 1957 [ voice and full orchestra ], from Song Cycle on Holy Sonnets of John Donne, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
by Juliana Hall (b. 1958), "At the round earth's imagin'd corners", 2013, first performed 2014 [ tenor and piano ], from The Holy Sonnets of John Donne - 9 Songs for Tenor and Piano, no. 7 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Bryan Kelly (b. 1934), "At the round earth's imagin'd corners", published 1977 [ tenor, SATB chorus, and piano ], cantata [sung text not yet checked]
by Dorian Le Gallienne (1915 - 1963), "At the round earth's imagin'd corners", published 1967, from Four Divine Poems of John Donne [sung text not yet checked]
by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "At the round earth's imagin'd corners", published 1917 [ chorus ], from Songs of Farewell, no. 5, motet [sung text not yet checked]
by Godfrey Ridout (1918 - 1984), "At the round earth's imagined corners", 1953 [ voice and piano ], from Cantiones mysticae, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Francis John Routh (b. 1927), "At the round earth's imagin'd corners", 1978 [ unaccompanied voices ] [sung text not yet checked]
by William Brocklesby Wordsworth (1908 - 1988), "At the round earth's imagin'd corners", 1944, published 1946, from Four Sacred Sonnets [sung text not yet checked]

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: 14
Word count: 113