Songs
An Ancient to Ancients
An Ancient to Ancients
Where once we danced, where once we sang,Gentlemen,The floors are sunken, cobwebs hang,And cracks creep; worms have fed uponThe doors. Yea, sprightlier times were thenThan now, with harps and tabrets gone,Gentlemen!Where once we rowed, where once we sailed,Gentlemen,And damsels took the tiller, veiledAgainst too strong a stare (God wotTheir fancy, then or anywhen!)Upon that shore we are clean forgot,Gentlemen!We have lost somewhat of that, afar and near,Gentlemen,The thinning of our ranks each yearAffords a hint we are nigh undone,That shall not be ever againThe marked of many, loved of one,Gentlemen.In dance the polka hit our wish,Gentlemen,The paced quadrille, the spry schottische,"Sir Roger."--And in opera spheresThe "Girl" (the famed "Bohemian"),And "Trovatore" held the ears,Gentlemen.This season's paintings do not please,GentlemenLike Etty, Mulready, Maclise;Throbbing romance had waned and wanned;No wizard wields the witching penOf Bulwer, Scott, Dumas, and Sand,Gentlemen.The bower we shrined to Tennyson,Gentlemen,Is roof-wrecked; damps there drip uponSagged seats, the creeper-nails are rust,The spider is sole denizen;Even she who voiced those rhymes is dust,Gentlemen!We who met sunrise sanguine-souled,Gentlemen,Are wearing weary. We are old;These younger press; we feel our routIs imminent to Aïdes' den,--That evening shades are stretching out,Gentlemen!And yet, though ours be failing frames,Gentlemen,So were some others' history names,Who trode their track light-limbed and fastAs these youth, and not alienFrom enterprise, to their long last,Gentlemen.Sophocles, Plato, Socrates,Gentlemen,Pythagoras, Thucydides,Herodotus, and Homer,--yea,Clement, Augustin, Origen,Burnt brightlier towards their setting-day,Gentlemen.And ye, red-lipped and smooth-browed; list,Gentlemen;Much is there waits you we have missed;Much lore we leave you worth the knowing,Much, much has lain outside our ken;Nay, rush not: time serves: we are going,Gentlemen.
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Composer
Poet
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, especially William Wordsworth. He was highly critical of much in Victorian society, especially on the declining status of rural people in Britain, such as those from his native South West England.
While Hardy wrote poetry throughout his life and regarded himself primarily as a poet, his first collection was not published until 1898. Initially, therefore, he gained fame as the author of such novels as Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895). During his lifetime, Hardy's poetry was acclaimed by younger poets (particularly the Georgians) who viewed him as a mentor. After his death his poems were lauded by Ezra Pound, W. H. Auden and Philip Larkin.
Read some of his poetry here. You can browse, read, and download his novels for free here on Gutenberg Press. If you prefer listening to audiobooks, you can find his books read aloud for free here, on Librivox.
Taken from Wikipedia. To read the full article, please click here.
See Full Entry
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Previously performed at:
An Ancient to Ancients
If you would like to use our texts and translations, please click here for more information.
Composer
Poet
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, especially William Wordsworth. He was highly critical of much in Victorian society, especially on the declining status of rural people in Britain, such as those from his native South West England.
While Hardy wrote poetry throughout his life and regarded himself primarily as a poet, his first collection was not published until 1898. Initially, therefore, he gained fame as the author of such novels as Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895). During his lifetime, Hardy's poetry was acclaimed by younger poets (particularly the Georgians) who viewed him as a mentor. After his death his poems were lauded by Ezra Pound, W. H. Auden and Philip Larkin.
Read some of his poetry here. You can browse, read, and download his novels for free here on Gutenberg Press. If you prefer listening to audiobooks, you can find his books read aloud for free here, on Librivox.
Taken from Wikipedia. To read the full article, please click here.
See Full Entry
Sorry, no further description available.
Previously performed at:
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