Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. V. Browning to Rupert Brooke

Aubrey Thomas de Vere (1814–1902)

Extracts from Mediæval Records and Sonnets: Tennyson

NONE sang of Love more nobly; few as well;

Of Friendship none with pathos so profound;

Of Duty sternliest-proved when myrtle-crowned;

Of English grove and rivulet, mead and dell;

Great Arthur’s Legend he alone dared tell;

Milton and Dryden feared to tread that ground;

For him alone o’er Camelot’s faery bound

The “horns of Elf-land” blew their magic spell.

Since Shakespeare and since Wordsworth none hath sung

So well his England’s greatness; none hath given

Reproof more fearless or advice more sage:

None inlier taught how near to earth is Heaven;

With what vast concords Nature’s harp is strung;

How base false pride; faction’s fanatic rage.