| Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900. |
| |
| William Wordsworth. 1770–1850 |
| |
534. The Sonnet
ii |
| |
| SCORN not the Sonnet; Critic, you have frown'd, | |
| Mindless of its just honours; with this key | |
| Shakespeare unlock'd his heart; the melody | |
| Of this small lute gave ease to Petrarch's wound; | |
| A thousand times this pipe did Tasso sound; | 5 |
| With it Camöens sooth'd an exile's grief; | |
| The Sonnet glitter'd a gay myrtle leaf | |
| Amid the cypress with which Dante crown'd | |
| His visionary brow: a glow-worm lamp, | |
| It cheer'd mild Spenser, call'd from Faery-land | 10 |
| To struggle through dark ways; and when a damp | |
| Fell round the path of Milton, in his hand | |
| The Thing became a trumpet; whence he blew | |
| Soul-animating strains—alas, too few! | |
|
|
