Scriabin wrote the Piano Sonata no.5 (op.53) & Poem of Ecstasy (Op.54), on the same poem. Though the Poem of Ecstasy was named a later opus number, Scriabin actaully started earlier on the symphonic poem.
The poem is difficult to understand, yet, there is a programme notes approved by Scriabin himself:
The Poem of Ecstasy is the Joy of Liberated Action. The Cosmos, i.e., Spirit, is Eternal Creation without External Motivation, a Divine Play of Worlds. The Creative Spirit, i.e., the Universe at Play, is not conscious of the Absoluteness of its creativeness, having subordinated itself to a Finality and made creativity a means toward an end. The stronger the pulse beat of life and the more rapid the precipitation of rhythms, the more clearly the awareness comes to the Spirit that it is consubstantial with creativity itself. When the Spirit has attained the supreme culmination of its activity and has been torn away from the embraces of teleology and relativity, when it has exhausted completely its substance and its liberated active energy, the Time of Ecstasy shall arrive. (from wikipedia)
The interesting thing about this composition is that Scriabin did not refer to the poem when he composed the pieces, however, he found similarities when he compared his own works. Not only the poem can be combined with the works, both the sonata and Poem of Ecstasy has a very similar structure (Both in Sonata Form). Moreover, these two works are the first ones that Scriabin moved away from keys. Although the sonata was marked F-sharp major, there is no F-sharp major throughout the whole piece.
He also introduced the famous mystic chord - C F# Bb E A D.
However, in his sonata, only a fragment of the poem was included:
I call you to life, oh mysterious forces!
Drowned in the obscure depths
Of the creative spirit, timid
Shadows of life, to you I bring audacity! The original poem can be found in the link:
http://flameinthesnow.blogspot.hk/2014/08/le-poeme-de-lextase-op-54-alexander.html
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