by
Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
A spider sewed at night
Language: English
Available translation(s): FRE GER GER ITA
A spider sewed at night
Without a light
Upon an arc of white.
If ruff it was of dame
Or shroud of Gnome,
Himself, himself inform.
Of immortality
His strategy
Was physiognomy.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "A spider", published 1971 [ SA chorus and piano ], from Nature [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "A spider", published 1944 [ voice and piano ], from Songs from Emily Dickinson: Nature Time and Space - Volume 1, two settings [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Donald Grantham (b. 1947), "A spider sewed at night", published 1983 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Seven Choral Settings of Poems by Emily Dickinson [sung text not yet checked]
- by Juliana Hall (b. 1958), "A spider sewed at night", 1987 [ soprano and piano ], from Night Dances - 6 songs for Soprano and Piano, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 9
Word count: 32
Die Spinne näht' zur Nacht
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the English
Die Spinne näht' zur Nacht
im Dunkel sacht
an weißen Kreises Pracht.
Ob Rüsche von Madame,
ob Tüll von Gnom
sich selber selbst vernahm.
Für's ew'ge Leben, sie,
als Strategie,
wählt Physiognomie.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2010-01-12
Line count: 9
Word count: 32