"No theme, no poet, and no audience" Seems echoing from a thousand critic throats! And yet methinks the muses are not dead, And theme sublime as ever stirred the soul Awaits the master touch of genius. Has beauty faded or has love grown cold? Were "Isles of Greece" more fair than Nippon Land That smiles like child awakened from its sleep? Or Homer's horde more brave than Saxon blood? Ulysses than the hero of Manila Bay? Are there not "Holy Grails" of truth to seek, And "Troys" of wrong full worthy of thy steel? For ample action of heroic type Could grander stage be built across the dome Of heaven itself than Lick reveals to us? Has't all been told? The earth a threadbare tale? Did e'er the wond'ring eyes of Virgil see, E'en in his wildest dream, such fleets superb Of floating palaces as we behold? What more adventurous land than that which sleeps White-robed beneath Boreas' shimmering light Where unknown Yukons roll o'er beds of gold? Is this not food for poets or for gods? Is one purblind, and ignorant of what Comprises art, who calls it rich romance? Is there no rhythm in the iron horse That gallops o'er the continents, and trails His meteoric splendor through the night, While wireless wizards bear on ether wings The pulsing passions of a list'ning world? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHARLES AUGUSTUS FORTESCUE by HILAIRE BELLOC OH, SWEET CONTENT by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES THE HOUSE OF LIFE: THE SONNET (INTRODUCTION) by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI SONNET: 8 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE VIRGILS GNAT: DEDICATORY SONNET by EDMUND SPENSER THE TRIUMPHS OF THY CONQUERING POWER by WILLIAM HILEY BATHURST PSALM 49 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE SURSUM CORDA by MARGARET CARROLL BRADY TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 3. THE MOTHER TO HER DAUGHTER by EDWARD CARPENTER |