by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861)
The Soul's Expression
Language: English
With stammering lips and insufficient sound I strive and struggle to deliver right That music of my nature, day and night Wich dream and thought and feeling interwound, And inly answering all the senses round With octaves of a mystic depth and height Which step out grandly to the infinite From the dark edges of the sensual ground. This song of soul I sruggle to outbear Through portals of the sense, sublime and whole, And utter all myself into the air; But if did it, - as the thunder-roll Breaks its own cloud, my flesh would perish there Before that dread apocalypse of soul.
First published in Graham's Magazine, July 1843.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Text Authorship:
- by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861), "The Soul's Expression" [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 Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 - 1912), "The Soul's Expression", op. 42 no. 1, published 1900 [ alto and orchestra or piano ], from The Soul's Expression, no. 1, London: Novello [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-04-21
Line count: 14
Word count: 103