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by Matthew Arnold (1822 - 1888)

In this lone, open glade I lie
Language: English 
In this lone, open glade I lie,
Screen'd by deep boughs on either hand;
And at its end, to stay the eye,
Those black-crown'd, red-boled pine-trees stand!

Birds here make song, each bird has his,
Across the girdling city's hum.
How green under the boughs it is!
How thick the tremulous sheep-cries come!

Sometimes a child will cross the glade
To take his nurse his broken toy;
Sometimes a thrush flit overhead
Deep in her unknown day's employ.

Here at my feet what wonders pass,
What endless, active life is here!
What blowing daisies, fragrant grass!
An air-stirr'd forest, fresh and clear.

Scarce fresher is the mountain-sod
Where the tired angler lies, stretch'd out,
And, eased of basket and of rod,
Counts his day's spoil, the spotted trout.

In the huge world, which roars hard by,
Be others happy if they can!
But in my helpless cradle I
Was breathed on by the rural Pan.

I, on men's impious uproar hurl'd,
Think often, as I hear them rave,
That peace has left the upper world
And now keeps only in the grave.

Yet here is peace for ever new!
When I who watch them am away,
Still all things in this glade go through
The changes of their quiet day.

Then to their happy rest they pass!
The flowers upclose, the birds are fed,
The night comes down upon the grass,
The child sleeps warmly in his bed.

Calm soul of all things! make it mine
To feel, amid the city's jar,
That there abides a peace of thine,
Man did not make, and cannot mar.

The will to neither strive nor cry,
The power to feel with others give!
Calm, calm me more! nor let me die
Before I have begun to live.

E. Bacon sets stanzas 10-11
H. Baumgartner sets stanzas 10-11
T. Beveridge sets stanzas 10-11
T. Hold sets stanzas 10-11
K. Roger sets stanzas 10-11 in (at least) one setting - see below for more information

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Matthew Arnold (1822 - 1888), "Lines written in Kensington Gardens", appears in Empedocles on Etna, and Other Poems, first published 1852 [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 Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "Calm soul", 193-?, published 1974, stanzas 10-11 [ voice and piano ], Georgetown: Dragon's Teeth Press [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Hope Leroy Baumgartner (1891 - 1968?9), "Calm soul of all things", published 1935, stanzas 10-11 [ SSATBB chorus a cappella ], from The City, Boston: E. C. Schirmer [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Thomas G. Beveridge (b. 1938), "Calm soul of all things", published 1971, stanzas 10-11 [ voice or unison chorus and piano ], from Songs of Praise, Boston: E. C. Schirmer [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Trevor Hold (1939 - 2004), "Calm soul of all things", published 1963, stanzas 10-11 [ SAB voices a cappella ], from Three Motets, motet; London: Chappell & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Kurt Roger , "Lines written in Kensington Gardens", op. 85a [ duet for soprano and alto with flute obbligato ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Kurt Roger , "Lines written in Kensington Gardens", op. 107 no. 3, first performed 1959, stanzas 10-11 [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Phyllis Margaret Duncan Tate (1911 - 1987), "Lines written in Kensington Gardens", published 1972 [ duet for soprano and alto with horn and piano ], from A Victorian Garland, London: Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-04-09
Line count: 44
Word count: 294

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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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