| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909. | | | | To the Muses | | By William Blake (1757–1827) |
| | | WHETHER on Ida’s shady brow, | |
| Or in the chambers of the East, | |
| The chambers of the sun, that now | |
| From ancient melody have ceas’d; | |
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| Whether in heav’n ye wander fair, | 5 |
| Or the green corners of the earth, | |
| Or the blue regions of the air | |
| Where the melodious winds have birth; | |
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| Whether on crystal rocks ye rove, | |
| Beneath the bosom of the sea | 10 |
| Wand’ring in many a coral grove, | |
| Fair Nine, forsaking Poetry! | |
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| How have you left the ancient love | |
| That bards of old enjoy’d in you! | |
| The languid strings do scarcely move! | 15 |
| The sound is forc’d, the notes are few! | | | | |
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