Vaughan Williams loved the poetry of
Walt Whitman throughout his adult life. He had been introduced to Whitman's work by
Bertrand Russell while they were undergraduates at
Cambridge. The musicologist
Elliott Schwartz has commented that Vaughan Williams was particularly attracted to Whitman by traits that are paralleled in his music: "the concern for the development of a national art independent of foreign influences and the recurring theme of mysticism and exploration". The composer's first settings of words by Whitman were two vocal duets with violin
obbligato: "The Last Invocation" and "The Birds’ Love-Song". He later rejected these songs, calling one "perfectly awful" and the other "an unconscious crib". His first canonical setting of Whitman was composed in late 1904 or early 1905, using the words of "Darest thou now, O soul" from the "Whispers of Heavenly Death" section of
Leaves of Grass: Darest thou now O soul, Walk out with me toward the unknown region, Where neither ground is for the feet nor any path to follow? No map there, nor guide, Nor voice sounding, nor touch of human hand, Nor face with blooming flesh, nor lips, nor eyes, are in that land. I know it not O soul, Nor dost thou, all is a blank before us, All waits undream'd of in that region, that inaccessible land. Till when the ties loosen, All but the ties eternal, Time and Space, Nor darkness, gravitation, sense, nor any bounds bounding us. Then we burst forth, we float, In Time and Space O soul, prepared for them, Equal, equipt at last, (O joyl O fruit of all!) them to fulfil O soul. The piece is dedicated to the composer's sister-in-law
Florence Maitland in memory of her husband,
F. W. Maitland,
Downing Professor of the Laws of England at Cambridge, whose recent death had grieved Vaughan Williams. ==Premiere and reception==