Shakespeare the boy with fairies in his head! Shakespeare the youth grown up with hedgerow flowers! Shakespeare the man—but who shall sum the powers By genius gendered and by London fed? His kind his day-book there, read and re-read; His lore the tavern's reckoning or the Tower's Grim placard: doom's dictation or the hour's— All, all approvingly interpreted. Mirthful or mournful as should suit his fable, Too near to nature for unmixed decorum, For every motion of life's masque a match; Of the world's friends none so companionable, Well met at court, in camp, chepe, forest, forum, And most himself beneath the Stratford thatch. |