Hear the voice of the bard

Songs of Innocence and of Experience , copy AA, 1826, object 30 (Bentley 30, Erdman 30, Keynes 30) "Introduction" (The Fitzwilliam Museum)

Hear the voice of the Bard ("O hear the voice of the bard") is a poem by the English poet and artist William Blake (1757-1827). It was published in 1794 as part of his Songs of Innocence and of Experience collection . It is the introduction to the Songs of Experience .

Symbolically represented is "the earth's struggle as a primal natural force" against the starry pole and "beach and sea" ( watery shore ) "as images of rationalism and materialism (the" sea of ​​space and time ")".

It has been set to music many times, including by Thea Musgrave . It is also sung as a carol (Christmas carol). The composition of this carol was commissioned for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College , Cambridge in 2013.

text

English version from the William Blake Archives

Hear the voice of the bard!
Who Present, Past, & Future sees
Whose ears have heard,
The Holy Word,
That walk'd among the ancient trees.

Calling the lapsed soul
and weeping in the evening dew:
That might control the
starry pole;
And fall fall light renew!

O Earth O Earth return!
Arise from out the dewy grass;
Night is worn.
And the morn
Rises from the slumberous mass.

Turn away no more:
Why wilt thou turn away
The starry floor
The watry shore
Is giv'n thee till the break of day.

O hear the voice of the bard Who
sees present, past and future;
Whose ears have heard
The Holy Word,
That wandered under the old trees; Calling the

escaped soul,
And weeping in the evening dew: That
could steer
the star pole ,
And renew fallen, fallen light!

"O earth, o earth, return!
Rise up from the dewy grass!
The night is over,
And the morning
rises from the sleepy mass.

" Do not turn away any more;
Why do you want to turn away?
The
starry canopy, the coastline,
are given to you until daybreak. "

literature

• William Blake: Between Fire and Fire. Poetic Works 1996, ISBN 3-423-02397-X

Web links

• Read aloud
• A comparison of extant copies of Introduction (Songs of Experience) : from the William Blake Archive .
• Songs of Experience - Introduction at the UGA (University Of Georgia)

Videos

• Sound samples (on YouTube ):
  • Martha Redbone @ WoodSongs-Hear the Voice of the Bard.mov Martha Redbone
  • NAU Men's Chorus Hear the Voice of the Bard , April 25, 2010, Northern Arizona University Men's Chorale, Andrew Ardizzoia's "Three Blake Choruses Opus 29, conducted by German Aguilar

References and footnotes

1. ↑ quoted from: William Blake: Between Fire and Fire. Poetic Works 1996, ISBN 3-423-02397-X , p. 445 (note on p. 74 f.)
2. ↑ Thea Musgrave; Hear the voice of the Bard (2013)
3. ↑ King's College Chapel: A Festival of nine Lessons and Carols - Christmas Eve 2013 (PDF; 412 kB)
4. ↑ Songs of Innocence and of Experience , copy AA, 1826, object 30 (Bentley 30, Erdman 30, Keynes 30) "Introduction", eds. Morris Eaves, Robert N. Essick & Joseph Viscomi, William Blake Archive