The windhover | I caught this morning morning's minion, kingdom of daylight's dauphin

The windhover

Language: English

Our translations: FIN

I caught this morning morning's minion, kingdom of daylight's dauphin,
  dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding of the rolling level
  underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
  As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bowbend: the hurl and gliding
  Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, -- the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!

Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
  Buckle!  AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!

No wonder of it: sheer plod makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
  Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold vermillion.

Text Authorship:

by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 - 1889), "The windhover", appears in Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, first published 1918 [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 Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley, Sir (1903 - 1989), "The windhover", published 1968 [ satb chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Reginald Smith Brindle (b. 1917), "The windhover", published 1971 [ soprano, tenor, and satb chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Newel Kay Brown (b. 1932), "The windhover" [ baritone and tenor trombone ], from Hopkins Set [sung text not yet checked]
by Arthur M. Campbell , "The windhover" [ high voice and piano ], from God's Grandeur [sung text not yet checked]
by John Mitchell (b. 1941), "The windhover", op. 96 no. 4 (1993), from Four Sacred Songs, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
by John Frederick Paynter (b. 1931), "The windhover", published 1972 [ satb chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Augusta Read Thomas (b. 1964), "The windhover", 2001, first performed 2001 [ soprano, children's chorus and chamber orchestra ], from Daylight Divine, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Michael Tippett (1905 - 1998), "The windhover", published 1942 [ satb chorus a cappella ], madrigal [sung text not yet checked]
by Grace Mary Williams (1906 - 1977), "The windhover", 1958 [ alto and string sextet ], from Six Songs (Poems?) by Gerard Manley Hopkins [sung text not yet checked]
by Russell Woollen (1923 - 1994), "The windhover", op. 28, published 1955 [ TTBB chorus and piano duet ] [sung text not yet checked]

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

Researcher for this page: Victoria Brago

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 133