I have been here before,
              But when or how I cannot tell:
          I know the grass beyond the door,
              The sweet keen smell,
    The sighing sound, the lights around the shore.

          You have been mine before, --
              How long ago I may not know:
          But just when at that swallow's soar
              Your neck turned so,
    Some veil did fall, -- I knew it all of yore.

          Has this been thus before?
              And shall not thus time's eddying flight
          Still with our lives our love restore
              In death's despite,
    And day and night yield one delight once more? 

About the headline (FAQ)

Note: first published in 1863, revised in 1870 and 1881. In the 1870 version of the poem (from Poems: an Offering to Lancashire), the final stanza was as follows:

         Then, now, -- perchance again! . . . .
              O round mine eyes your tresses shake!
          Shall we not lie as we have lain
              Thus for Love's sake,
    And sleep, and wake, yet never break the chain?

Text Authorship:

• by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 - 1882), "Sudden light", written 1853/4, from Poems. A New Edition, first published 1881 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

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

• by Florence Newell Barbour (1867 - 1946), "Sudden light", published 1919 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by George John Bennett (1863 - 1930), "Sudden light", published 1886 [ voice and piano ], from Twelve Songs Set to Poems of Shelley and Rossetti, no. 11, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]
• by Walter H. Golde (1887 - 1963), "Sudden light", 1921 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Hall (b. 1943), "Sudden light", 1974, first performed 1974 [ high voice and piano ], from Three Poems of Dante Gabriel Rossetti [sung text not yet checked]
• by Raymond Hanson (1913 - 1976), "Fallen veils", op. 6 (1938) [ soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Julius Allan Greenway Harrison (1885 - 1963), "Sudden light", published 1920 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Michael (Dewar) Head (1900 - 1976), "Fallen veils", 1938, published 1939 [ tenor or baritone and piano ], from Five Songs, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Martin Tornov Loeffler (1861 - 1935), "Sudden light", op. 15 (Four Poems) no. 1, published 1906 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Andrew John Massey (b. 1946), "Sudden light", 1970 [ soprano or tenor solo, violoncello, and flute ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Clara Kathleen Rogers (1844 - 1931), "Sudden light", op. 33 (Two Songs with Words by Dante Gabriel Rossetti) no. 1, published 1900 [ voice and piano ], Boston : Arthur P. Schmidt and Co. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Rudolph T. Werther (1896 - 1986), "Sudden light", 1945-70 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by George John Bennett.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2007-09-27
Line count: 15
Word count: 96