To Winter

"O Winter! bar thine adamantine doors:
The north is thine; there hast thou built thy dark
Deep-founded habitation. Shake not thy roofs,
Nor bend thy pillars with thine iron car."

He hears me not, but o'er the yawning deep
Rides heavy; his storms are unchain'd, sheathed
In ribbed steel; I dare not lift mine eyes,
For he hath rear'd his sceptre o'er the world.

Lo! now the direful monster, whose skin clings
To his strong bones, strides o'er the groaning rocks:
He withers all in silence, and in his hand
Unclothes the earth, and freezes up frail life.

He takes his seat upon the cliffs, -- the mariner
Cries in vain. Poor little wretch, that deal'st
With storms! -- till heaven smiles, and the monster
Is driv'n yelling to his caves beneath mount Hecla.

by William Blake (1757-1827) , "To Winter"

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

by William Henry Bell (1873-1946) , "Winter", 1940, from Twelve Blake Songs, no. 4.
by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948-) , "To Winter", op. 28 no. 4, published 1979, first performed 1980 [voice, flute, viola, and harp], from The seasons, no. 4.

RUS Russian [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov)

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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K Zime

“Zapri na vse zasovy, o Zima,
Dver' tvojego kholodnogo zhilishcha
Na mrachnom severe, i krysh svoikh
Ne zadevaj zheleznoj kolesnicej.”

Ne slushaja, Zima nad bezdnoj mchit,
S cepi spustiv zakovannye v broni
Burany; strashno mne glaza podnjat'
Na skipetr, voznesjonnyj nad zemljoj.

Chudovishche iz kozhi i kostej
Shagajet cherez stonushchie skaly,
V molchan'e pogruzhaja vsjo vokrug,
S zemli sryvaja khrupkie odezhdy,

Stupaja na utjosy; o morekhod
Neschastnyj! Buri ne unjat', mol'by
Naprasny! Lish' ot ulybki nebesnoj
Chudovishche ischeznet v nedrakh Gekly.

Show Cyrillic (Покажите текст в кириллице)
Note on Transliteration

Singable translation by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948-) , "K Zime", published 1979, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

a text in English by William Blake (1757-1827) , "To Winter"

Date added to the website: 2008-02-15.