Philomela

Hark! ah, the Nightingale!
The tawny-throated!
Hark! from that moonlit cedar what a burst!
What triumph! hark -- what pain!
 
O Wanderer from a Grecian shore,
Still, after many years, in distant lands,
Still nourishing in thy bewilder'd brain
That wild, unquench'd, deep-sunken, old-world pain -- 
  Say, will it never heal?
And can this fragrant lawn	
With its cool trees, and night,
And the sweet, tranquil Thames,
And moonshine, and the dew,
To thy rack'd heart and brain
  Afford no balm?
 
  Dost thou to-night behold
Here, through the moonlight on this English grass,
The unfriendly palace in the Thracian wild?
  Dost thou again peruse
With hot cheeks and sear'd eyes	
The too clear web, and thy dumb Sister's shame?
  Dost thou once more assay
Thy flight, and feel come over thee,
Poor Fugitive, the feathery change
Once more, and once more seem to make resound	
With love and hate, triumph and agony,
Lone Daulis, and the high Cephissian vale?
    Listen, Eugenia -- 
How thick the bursts come crowding through the leaves!
  Again -- thou hearest!
Eternal Passion!
Eternal Pain!

by Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) , "Philomela", from Poems, published 1853

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

by Harold Blumenfeld (1923-) , "Elegy for the nightingale", published 1975. [baritone, chorus, orchestra]
by Edward Toner Cone (1917-) , "Philomela", 1954, first performed 1954 [soprano, flute, viola, and piano], from Philomela -- Three Nightingale Songs, no. ?

Date added to the website: 2009-01-09.

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