Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Dying words

Manfred, Act III:

My favorite "dying words" in dramatic literature probably is the end of Byron's dramatic poem MANFRED, which follows:

"MANFRED
'Tis over -- my dull eyes can fix thee not;
But all things swim around m, and the earth
Heaves as it were beneath me. Fare thee well --
Give me thy hand.

ABBOT
Cold -- cold -- even to the heart --
But yet one prayer -- alas! how fares it with thee? -- 150

MANFRED
Old man! 'tis not so difficult to die.
[MANFRED expires"
Manfred is a dramatic poem written in 1816–1817 by Lord Byron. It contains supernatural elements, in keeping with the popularity of the ghost story in England at the time. It is a typical example of a Romantic closet drama. Manfred was adapted musically by Robert Schumann in 1852, in a composition entitled Manfred: Dramatic Poem with music in Three Parts, and later by Pyotr Tchaikovsky in his Manfred Symphony, Op. 58, as well as by Carl Reinecke. Friedrich Nietzsche was impressed by the poem's depiction of a super-human being, and wrote some music for it.

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