My spirit is too weak; mortality (Keats, set by (Gary Bachlund, Charles Edward Ives, Roger Guy Steptoe)) (The LiederNet Archive: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)

by John Keats (1795 - 1821)

My spirit is too weak; mortality

Language: English

Available translation(s): FRE GER HUN

My spirit is too weak; mortality 
Weighs heavily on me like unwilling sleep,
And each imagined pinnacle and steep
Of godlike hardship tells me I must die,
Like a sick eagle looking towards the sky.
Yet 'tis a gentle luxury to weep,
That I have not the cloudy winds to keep
Fresh for the opening of the morning's eye.
Such dim-conceived glories of the brain
Bring round the heart an indescribable feud;
So do these wonders a most dizzy pain,
That mingles Grecian grandeur with the rude
Wasting of old Time -- with a billowy main,
A sun, a shadow of a magnitude.

C. Ives sets lines 1-5
G. Bachlund sets lines 1-5

About the headline (FAQ)

View text with footnotes

Authorship

by John Keats (1795 - 1821), "On seeing the Elgin Marbles for the first time" [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), "Like a sick eagle", 1985, lines 1-5 [medium voice and piano], from Three Little Americana Songs, no. 3 [ sung text checked 1 time]
by Charles Edward Ives (1874 - 1954), "Like a sick eagle", 1920, published 1921, lines 1-5 [voice and piano] [ sung text checked 1 time]
by Roger Guy Steptoe (b. 1953), "On seeing the Elgin Marbles", 1976, first performed 1978 [tenor and piano], from Five Songs for Tenor and Piano [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]

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: 102