 | Lyrical Poems |  |
113
THE ANCIENT AND MODERN MUSES
The monument outlasting bronze
Was promised well by bards of old;
The lucid outline of their lay
Its sweet precision keeps for aye,
Fix'd in the ductile language-gold.
Was promised well by bards of old;
The lucid outline of their lay
Its sweet precision keeps for aye,
Fix'd in the ductile language-gold.
But we who work with smaller skill,
And less refined material mould,
—This close conglomerate English speech,
Bequest of many tribes, that each
Brought here and wrought at from of old,
And less refined material mould,
—This close conglomerate English speech,
Bequest of many tribes, that each
Brought here and wrought at from of old,
Residuum rough, eked out by rhyme
Barbarian ornament uncouth,—
Our hope is less to last through Art
Than deeper searching of the heart,
Than broader range of utter'd truth.
Barbarian ornament uncouth,—
Our hope is less to last through Art
Than deeper searching of the heart,
Than broader range of utter'd truth.
114
One keen-cut group, one deed or aim
Athenian Sophocles could show,
And rest content:—but Shakespeare's stage
Must hold the glass to every age,—
A thousand forms and passions glow
Athenian Sophocles could show,
And rest content:—but Shakespeare's stage
Must hold the glass to every age,—
A thousand forms and passions glow
Upon the world-wide canvass. So
With larger scope our art we ply;
And if the crown be harder won,
Diviner rays around it run,
With strains of fuller harmony.
With larger scope our art we ply;
And if the crown be harder won,
Diviner rays around it run,
With strains of fuller harmony.
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