Darest thou now O soul

Darest thou now O soul,
Walk out with me toward the unknown region,
Where neither ground is for the feet nor any path to follow?

No map there, nor guide,
Nor voice sounding, nor touch of human hand,
Nor face with blooming flesh, nor lips, nor eyes, are in that land.

I know it not O soul;
Nor dost thou, all is a blank before us,
All waits undream'd of in that region, that inaccessible land.

Till when the ties loosen,
All but the ties eternal, Time and Space,
Nor darkness, gravitation, sense, nor any bounds bound us.

Then we burst forth, we float,
In Time and Space O soul, prepared for them,
Equal, equipt at last, (O joy! O fruit of all!) them to fulfil O soul.

by Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

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 Hans Adler (1928-) , no title, published 1977 [medium voice, string quartet], from Sixth String Quartet (A Whitman Serenade)
by Ernst Bacon (1898-1990) , "Darest thou now O soul", alternate title: "Whispers of heavenly death"
by Eugene MacDonald Bonner (1889-1983) , "Darest thou now, O soul", published 1925 [voice, piano or orchestra], from Whispers of Heavenly Death, note: also set in French
by George Whitefield Chadwick (1854-1931) , "Darest thou now, O soul", published 1910 [TTBB quartet a cappella], from Three Partsongs, no. 1.
by Roland Diggle (1885-1954) , "Darest thou now O soul", published 1948. [mixed voice chorus, piano]
by Isadore Freed (1900-1960) , "Darest thou now O soul", published 1928. [SSA, mezzo-soprano, piano]
by Philip Glass (1937-) , "Darest thou now, O soul" [SATB chorus a cappella]
by Michael Hennagin (1936-) , no title, published 1968 [SSA chorus, piano, flute, and percussion], from The Unknown, no. ?
by Michael Hennagin (1936-) , "Darest thou now, O soul" [SATB chorus, 3 baritones, 4 tenors, piano, flute, percussion, electronic tape, 2 slide projectors, 3 trumpets, timpani]
by Hans Werner Henze (1926-) , "Whispers from heavenly death"
by Bruno Siegfried Huhn (1871-1950) , "The Unknown", published 1918. [three-part female voices, piano, organ]
by Normand Lockwood (1906-) , "Darest thou now, O soul", 1959. [SSAATTBB chorus, piano]
by William Howard Schuman (1910-1992) , "The Unknown Region", published 1959 [SATB chorus a cappella], from Carols of Death, no. 2.
by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) , "To the Soul", op. 97 no. 4 (1906), published 1908 [voice, piano], from Six Songs of Faith, no. 4.
by (Olav) Fartein Valen (1887-1952) , "Darest thou now O soul", 1928.
by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) , "Toward the Unknown Region", published 1907. [8-part chorus, orchestra]
by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) , "Darest thou now, O soul", published 1925. [unison song, piano]
by Thomas Carl Whitmer (1873-1959) , "Darest thou now, O soul", published 1928 [quartet of solo voices, chorus, and piano or orchestra], from Choral Rhapsody, no. ?
by David McKinley Williams (1887-1978) , "Darest thou now, O soul", published 1926. [anthem: chorus, soprano, organ or orchestra]
by Charles Wood (1866-1926) , no title, published 1927 [low voice, piano], from Ten Songs for Low Voice

by Eugene MacDonald Bonner (1889-1983) , unknown title, published 1925 [voice, piano or orchestra], from Whispers of Heavenly Death, note: also set in English

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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