There's a certain slant of light

There's a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.

Heavenly hurt it gives us;
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings are.

None may teach it anything,
'T is the seal, despair, -
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air.

When it comes, the landscape listens,
Shadows hold their breath;
When it goes, 't is like the distance
On the look of death.

by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) , no title, from Poems of Emily Dickinson, published 1890

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

by Ernst Bacon (1898-1990) , "Winter afternoons", published 1971 [SA chorus and piano], from Nature, no. ?
by Robert F. Baksa (1938-) , "There's a certain slant of light", published 1978 [mezzo-soprano, piano], from Emily Dickinson Songs, no. 12.
by Sharon Davis (1937-) , "There's a certain slant of light", published 1981 [soprano and piano trio], from Three Moods of Emily Dickinson, no. ?
by Peter Dickinson (1934-) , no title, published 1974 [AATTBB chorus and double bass], from Winter Afternoons, no. ?
by Daniel Pinkham (1923-) , no title, published 1974 [medium voice and electronic tape], from Safe in their Alabaster Chambers, no. ?
by Richard Pearson Thomas (1957-) , "There's a certain slant of light", from At last, to be identified, no. 5.

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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