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Sonnets on English Dramatic Poets (1590-1650): George Chapman

By Algernon Charles Swinburne

Topics: classic

High priest of Homer, not elect in vain,     Deep trumpets blow before thee, shawms behind     Mix music with the rolling wheels that wind     Slow through the labouring triumph of thy train:     Fierce history, molten in thy forging brain,     Takes form and fire and fashion from thy mind,     Tormented and transmuted out of kind:     But howsoeer thou shift thy strenuous strain,     Like Tailor1 smooth, like Fisher2 swollen, and now     Grim Yarrington3 scarce bloodier marked than thou,     Then bluff as Maynes4 or broad-mouthed Barrys5 glee ,     Proud still with hoar predominance of brow     And beard like foam swept off the broad blown sea,     Whereer thou go, mens reverence goes with thee.

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Author:Algernon Charles Swinburne

"High priest of Homer, not elect in vain,..." by Algernon Charles Swinburne

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Algernon Charles Swinburne

About Algernon Charles Swinburne

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) was an English poet known for metrical innovation and bold themes. His "Atalanta in Calydon" and "Poems and Ballads" challenged Victorian conventions with their musical intensity and controversial subject matter.

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