by William Blake (1757 - 1827)
He who bends to himself a Joy
Language: English
He who [bends to himself]1 a Joy Doth the wingèd life destroy; But he who kisses the Joy as it flies Lives in Eternity's sunrise.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Vaughan Williams: "binds himself"; Franceschini and J. White: "binds to himself"
Text Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Eternity", appears in Notebook, in Gnomic Verses, in 17. Several Questions Answered, no. 1 [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 (Thomas) Athanasios Aronis (b. 1935), "Eternity", from Blake Song Cycle, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sharon Davis (b. 1937), "Eternity", op. 4 no. 3, published 1977 [ soprano and clarinet ], from Three Poems of William Blake, no. 3, Los Angeles : Avant Music [sung text not yet checked]
- by Romulus Franceschini (b. 1929), "He who binds to himself a Joy", 1964 [ tenor or soprano and piano ], from Blake Cycle, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pamela Hind O'Malley (b. 1923), "He who bends to himself a joy", 1948 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Bo Holten (b. 1948), "Eternity", 1981/2, first performed 1982 [ double mixed chorus and large orchestra ], from Symfoni (Symphony) no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Martin Hopfmueller (b. 1929), "Who binds to himself a Joy", 1982 [ soprano, flute, and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Douglas Jamieson (b. 1949), "He who binds to himself", 1976 [ mixed chorus, piano, and percussion ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Meyer Kupferman (b. 1926), "Eternity", published 1973 [ voice and clarinet ], from Three Songs of Blake, no. 3, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY : General Music Publ. Co. [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Mitchell (b. 1941), "Eternity", op. 25 no. 10 (1977), from Visions from the Flame, no. 10 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Tage Nielsen (1929 - 2003), "Eternity", 1979, first performed 1979 [ soprano and vibraphone ], from 5 Poems by William Blake, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nick Peros (b. 1963), "Eternity" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gerard Schürmann (b. 1928), "Eternity", 1956, published 1996-7, from Six Songs of William Blake, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marianne Simon , "He who binds to himself a Joy", c1973 [sung text not yet checked]
This text (or a part of it) is used in a work
- by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Eternity", 1957, published 1958 [ voice and oboe ], from Ten Blake Songs, no. 10
- by John David White (b. 1931), "Ode to darkness", published c1972 [ SATB chorus and piano or orchestra ], from Three Madrigals, no. 3, NY : G. Schirmer
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 4
Word count: 25