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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Greece and Turkey in Europe: Vol. XIX. 1876–79.

Greece: Corinth

Corinth

By William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

On a Celebrated Event in Ancient History

A ROMAN master stands on Grecian ground,

And to the concourse of the Isthmian games

He, by his herald’s voice, aloud proclaims

“The liberty of Greece”; the words rebound

Until all voices in one voice are drowned;

Glad acclamation by which air was rent!

And birds, high flying in the element,

Dropped to the earth, astonished at the sound!

A melancholy echo of that noise

Doth sometimes hang on musing Fancy’s ear;

Ah! that a conqueror’s words should be so dear;

Ah! that a boon should shed such rapturous joys!

A gift of that which is not to be given

By all the blended powers of earth and heaven.