Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867.

I. On the Fifty-fifth Sonnet of Shakespeare

George Henry Calvert (1803–1889)

THE SOUL leaps up to hear this mighty sound,

Of Shakespeare triumphing. With glistening eye,

Forward he sent his spirit, to espy

Time’s gratitude, and catch the far rebound

Of fame from worlds unpeopled yet; and, crowned

With brightening light through all futurity,

His image to behold up-reaching high,

’Mongst the world’s benefactors most renowned.

Like to the ecstasy, by man unnamed,

The spheral music doth to gods impart,

Was the deep joy that thou hast here proclaimed

Thy song’s eternal echo gave thy heart.

O, the world thanks thee that thou ’st let us see,

Thou knew’st how great thou wast, how prized to be!