Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SHAKESPEARE, by JOHN STERLING (1806-1844) Poet's Biography First Line: How little fades from earth when sink to rest Last Line: Small tasks and strengths may be no less divine. Subject(s): Dramatists; Plays & Playwrights; Poetry & Poets; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616) | ||||||||
How little fades from earth when sink to rest The hours and cares that mov'd a great man's breast! Though naught of all we saw the grave may spare, His life pervades the world's impregnate air; Though Shakespeare's dust beneath our footsteps lies, His spirit breathes amid his native skies; With meaning won from him forever glows Each air that England feels, and star it knows; His whisper'd words from many a mother's voice Can make her sleeping child in dreams rejoice, And gleams from spheres he first conjoin'd to earth Are blent with rays of each new morning's birth. Amid the sights and tales of common things, Leaf, flower, and bird, and wars, and deaths of kings, Of shore, and sea, and nature's daily round, Of life that tills, and tombs that load the ground, His visions mingle, swell, command, pace by, And haunt with living presence heart and eye; And tones from him by other bosoms caught Awaken flush and stir of mounting thought, And the long sigh, and deep impassion'd thrill, Rouse custom's trance, and spur the faltering will. Above the goodly land more his than ours He sits supreme enthron'd in skyey towers, And sees the heroic brood of his creation Teach larger life to his ennobled nation. O shaping brain! O flashing fancy's hues! O boundless heart kept fresh by pity's dews! O wit humane and blithe! O sense sublime For each dim oracle of mantled Time! Transcendent Form of Man! in whom we read Mankind's whole tale of Impulse, Thought, and Deed; Amid the expanse of years beholding thee, We know how vast our world of life may be; Wherein, perchance, with aims as pure as thine, Small tasks and strengths may be no less divine. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SOUNDS OF THE RESURRECTED DEAD MAN'S FOOTSTEPS (#20): 1. SHAKESPEARE by MARVIN BELL SOUNDS OF THE RESURRECTED DEAD MAN'S FOOTSTEPS (#20): 2. SHAKESPEARE by MARVIN BELL YOUR SHAKESPEARE by MARVIN BELL TO AN ARTIST, TO TAKE HEART by LOUISE BOGAN THE SAVING WAY by HAYDEN CARRUTH THE EXPENSE OF SPIRIT by ALICE FULTON YOU KNOW WHAT PEOPLE SAY by JAMES GALVIN SHAKESPEARE'S GRAVE by ROBINSON JEFFERS AFTER READING SHAKESPERE by EDWIN MARKHAM ALFRED THE HARPER by JOHN STERLING (1806-1844) |
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