26.12.2010, 13:37
GODDARD AND LYCIDAS.
Two dirges by two poets have I read,
By two great masters of our English tongue ;
One for the youth who rests his drowned head
Upon the mighty harp of him who sung
The loss of Eden ; and the other, warm
From Wordsworth's gentle heart, o'er Goddard's grave,
By Keller raised, near Zurich's stormy wave —
Both beautiful, with each its proper charm ;
The one so glorious—we are fain to blend
The name of Lycidas with that wild sea.
Where sank to deathless fame the poet's friend :
The other, with a humbler purpose pcnn'd.
Set one poor mother's stifled sorrows free.
And gain'd, by lowlier means, a sweeter end.
Two dirges by two poets have I read,
By two great masters of our English tongue ;
One for the youth who rests his drowned head
Upon the mighty harp of him who sung
The loss of Eden ; and the other, warm
From Wordsworth's gentle heart, o'er Goddard's grave,
By Keller raised, near Zurich's stormy wave —
Both beautiful, with each its proper charm ;
The one so glorious—we are fain to blend
The name of Lycidas with that wild sea.
Where sank to deathless fame the poet's friend :
The other, with a humbler purpose pcnn'd.
Set one poor mother's stifled sorrows free.
And gain'd, by lowlier means, a sweeter end.