Our birth is but a sleep and a...

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: 
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, 
   Hath had elsewhere its setting, 
      And cometh from afar: 
   Not in entire forgetfulness, 
   And not in utter nakedness, 
But trailing clouds of glory do we come 
   From God, who is our home: 
Heaven lies about us in our infancy! 
Shades of the prison_house begin to close 
   Upon the growing Boy, 
      But He 
Beholds the light, and whence it flows, 
   He sees it in his joy; 
The Youth, who daily farther from the east 
   Must travel, still is Nature's Priest, 
   And by the vision splendid 
   Is on his way attended; 
At length the Man perceives it die away, 
And fade into the light of common day.

by William Wordsworth (1770-1850) , from Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) , "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting", op. 29 no. 5 [tenor, chorus, and orchestra], from Intimations of Immortality, no. 5.

Date added to the website: 2005-12-31.

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