Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WRITTEN IN SIR SIDNEY LEE'S LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE, by WILLIAM WATSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WRITTEN IN SIR SIDNEY LEE'S LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Lee, who in niggard soil hast delved, to find
Last Line: Glorious with casual sprinklings of the foam.
Alternate Author Name(s): Watson, John William
Subject(s): Biography; Dramatists; Lee, Sidney (1859-1926); Plays & Playwrights; Poetry & Poets; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Biographers


LEE, who in niggard soil hast delved, to find
What things soever may be known or guessed
Of him that to the ages gives no rest,
The world-scanned secret peak of human mind;
Thy choice was well, who leav'st to fools and blind
All vague, unprofitable, fantastic quest,
Nor with a spy's dark diligence wrong'st that breast,
Where the still-curtained heart still balks mankind.

'Tis said of certain poets, that writ large
Their sombre names on tragic stage and tome,
They are gulfs or estuaries of Shakespeare's sea.
Lofty the praise; but honour enough, to be
As children playing by his mighty marge,
Glorious with casual sprinklings of the foam.





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