by James Macpherson (pretending to translate "Ossian") (1736 - 1796)
Desolate is the dwelling of Morna
Language: English
Desolate is the dwelling of [Moina]1, silence is in the house of her fathers. Raise the song of mourning, o bards! over the land of strangers. They have but [fallen]2 before us: for one day we must fall. [Why dost thou build the hall, son of the winged days? Thou lookest from thy towers to-day:]3 yet a few years, and the blast of the desert comes; [it howles in thy empty court,]3 and whistles round thy half-worn shield. [And let]4 the blast of the desert come! We shall be renowned in our day! The mark of my arm shall be in battle; my name in the song of bards.
View original text (without footnotes)
1 Callcott: "Morna"
2 Callcott: "fall'n"
3 omitted by Callcott
4 Callcott: "Let"
Researcher for this page: Johann Winkler
1 Callcott: "Morna"
2 Callcott: "fall'n"
3 omitted by Callcott
4 Callcott: "Let"
Authorship:
- by James Macpherson (pretending to translate "Ossian") (1736 - 1796) [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 John Wall Callcott (1766 - 1821), "Desolate is the dwelling of Morna", subtitle: "Glee for three voices" [ vocal trio ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Johann Winkler
This text was added to the website: 2020-04-07
Line count: 16
Word count: 109