| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| A Sonnet |
| | | James Kenneth Stephen (1859–92) |
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| TWO voices are there: one is of the deep; | |
| It learns the storm-cloud’s thunderous melody, | |
| Now roars, now murmurs with the changing sea, | |
| Now bird-like pipes, now closes soft in sleep: | |
| And one is of an old half-witted sheep | 5 |
| Which bleats articulate monotony, | |
| And indicates that two and one are three, | |
| That grass is green, lakes damp, and mountains steep: | |
| And, Wordsworth, both are thine: at certain times, | |
| Forth from the heart of thy melodious rhymes | 10 |
| The form and pressure of high thoughts will burst: | |
| At other times—good Lord! I ’d rather be | |
| Quite unacquainted with the A. B. C. | |
| Than write such hopeless rubbish as thy worst. | |
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