Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Greece and Turkey in Europe: Vol. XIX. 1876–79.
Corinth
By William Wordsworth (1770–1850)On a Celebrated Event in Ancient History
A R
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.