Hear the Voice

William BlakeEnglish RomanticismPoem

HEAR the voice of the Bard,
Who present, past, and future, sees;
Whose ears have heard
The Holy Word
That walk’d among the ancient trees;

Calling the lapsèd soul,
And weeping in the evening dew;
That might control
The starry pole,
And fallen, fallen light renew!

‘O Earth, O Earth, return!
Arise from out the dewy grass!
Night is worn,
And the morn
Rises from the slumbrous mass.

‘Turn away no more;
Why wilt thou turn away?
The starry floor,
The watery shore,
Is given thee till the break of day.’

Cultural reading

Reading the poem

A summons to hear the Bard who has heard the Holy Word walking among ancient trees, followed by that Word's own call for the fallen Earth to rise and turn back before daybreak.

Language notes

Text and edition

The heading reproduces the opening words of the first line, 'Hear the voice of the Bard', so it functions as a first-line identifier rather than an authorial title; the four supplied stanzas read as self-contained.