Two Poems by Walt Whitman (2017)
Two movements (may be performed separately); a cappella SATB choir; ca. 5 min.
The composer writes: By the time it reached its ninth edition, in 1892, Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” had become a work of cosmic scale, encompassing a vast range of human emotion and experience. (Like Whitman himself, the poet’s magnum opus is large and contains multitudes.) Here, I have chosen two Whitman poems: the first is a vivid yet metaphoric portrayal of the physical world; the second takes us into the realm of the metaphysical.
WATCH & LISTEN ...
Score available from:
TEXTS
I: Tears (abridged)
Tears! tears! tears!
In the night, in solitude, tears;
On the white shore dripping, dripping, suck'd in by the sand;
Tears, not a star shining, all dark and desolate;
Moist tears, from the eyes of a muffled head.
O who is that ghost? That form in the dark?
What shapeless lump is that, bent, crouch'd there on the sand?
Streaming tears, sobbing tears, throes, choked with wild cries.
O storm, embodied, rising, careering;
O wild and dismal night storm!
O belching and desperate!
O shade, so sedate and decorous by day, with calm countenance and regulated pace;
But at night, as you fly, none looking, O then the unloosen'd ocean,
Of tears! tears! tears!
II: 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 fulfill,
O Soul!
The composer writes: By the time it reached its ninth edition, in 1892, Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” had become a work of cosmic scale, encompassing a vast range of human emotion and experience. (Like Whitman himself, the poet’s magnum opus is large and contains multitudes.) Here, I have chosen two Whitman poems: the first is a vivid yet metaphoric portrayal of the physical world; the second takes us into the realm of the metaphysical.
WATCH & LISTEN ...
Score available from:
TEXTS
I: Tears (abridged)
Tears! tears! tears!
In the night, in solitude, tears;
On the white shore dripping, dripping, suck'd in by the sand;
Tears, not a star shining, all dark and desolate;
Moist tears, from the eyes of a muffled head.
O who is that ghost? That form in the dark?
What shapeless lump is that, bent, crouch'd there on the sand?
Streaming tears, sobbing tears, throes, choked with wild cries.
O storm, embodied, rising, careering;
O wild and dismal night storm!
O belching and desperate!
O shade, so sedate and decorous by day, with calm countenance and regulated pace;
But at night, as you fly, none looking, O then the unloosen'd ocean,
Of tears! tears! tears!
II: 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 fulfill,
O Soul!
