John Dryden (1631-1700)
A Song for St. Cecilia's Day, 1687
Stanza 1
1From harmony, from Heav'nly harmony
2 This universal frame began.
3 When Nature underneath a heap
4 Of jarring atoms lay,
5 And could not heave her head,
6The tuneful voice was heard from high,
7 Arise ye more than dead.
8Then cold, and hot, and moist, and dry,
9 In order to their stations leap,
10 And music's pow'r obey.
11From harmony, from Heav'nly harmony
12 This universal frame began:
13 From harmony to harmony
14Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
15 The diapason closing full in man.
Stanza 2
16What passion cannot music raise and quell!
17 When Jubal struck the corded shell,
18 His list'ning brethren stood around
19 And wond'ring, on their faces fell
20 To worship that celestial sound:
21Less than a god they thought there could not dwell
22 Within the hollow of that shell
23 That spoke so sweetly and so well.
24What passion cannot music raise and quell!
Stanza 3
25 The trumpet's loud clangor
26 Excites us to arms
27 With shrill notes of anger
28 And mortal alarms.
29 The double double double beat
30 Of the thund'ring drum
31 Cries, hark the foes come;
32Charge, charge, 'tis too late to retreat.
Stanza 4
33 The soft complaining flute
34 In dying notes discovers
35 The woes of hopeless lovers,
36Whose dirge is whisper'd by the warbling lute.
Stanza 5
37 Sharp violins proclaim
38Their jealous pangs, and desperation,
39Fury, frantic indignation,
40Depth of pains and height of passion,
41 For the fair, disdainful dame.
Stanza 6
42But oh! what art can teach
43 What human voice can reach
44The sacred organ's praise?
45Notes inspiring holy love,
46Notes that wing their Heav'nly ways
47 To mend the choirs above.
Stanza 7
48Orpheus could lead the savage race;
49And trees unrooted left their place;
50 Sequacious of the lyre:
51But bright Cecilia rais'd the wonder high'r;
52 When to her organ, vocal breath was giv'n,
53An angel heard, and straight appear'd
54 Mistaking earth for Heav'n.
GRAND CHORUS
55As from the pow'r of sacred lays
56 The spheres began to move,
57And sung the great Creator's praise
58 To all the bless'd above;
59So when the last and dreadful hour
60 This crumbling pageant shall devour,
61The trumpet shall be heard on high,
62 The dead shall live, the living die,
63 And music shall untune the sky.
Notes
1] The feast-day of St. Cecilia (Nov. 22) commemorated the legend that she invented the organ, and is consequently the patron saint of music, by the performance of formal odes set to music. During the Restoration and eighteenth century, these odes enlisted the services of the best musicians and poets, as well as the lesser. Dryden's Alexander's Feast (1697) is another ode for St. Cecilia's Day. The theme conventionally combines a tribute to the power of music, and a final tribute to the saint, with reference to the legend here given in stanza vii. For the reference to Jubal in stanza ii, see Gen. 5:21.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: John Dryden, Poetry, Prose, and Plays, ed. Douglas Grant (Reynard Library edition: Hart-Davis, 1952). PR 3412 G7 1952 ROBA. The base text is in John Dryden's Examen Poeticum (London: J. Tonson, 1693). hob Fisher Rare Book Library (Toronto).
First publication date:
1687
RPO poem editor: G. G. Falle
RP edition: 3RP 2.48-50.
Recent editing: 4:2002/4/3
Form: Irregular Ode
Form note: irregular rhyming
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