@3Spoken by Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson at the opening of the Theatre of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, May 27, 1921@1 ENGLAND will keep her dearest jewel bright, And see her sons like to their sires renown'd; Whose Shakespeare is with deathless Homer crown'd, Her freedom the world's hope throned in the height. All gifts of spirit are of such airy flight That if their fire be spent they fall to ground; Their virtue must with newborn life abound, And by young birth renew their old birthright. We workers therefore in this troublous age Would keep our beauty of language from misfeature, Presenting manners noble, and mirth unblamed: So Truth shall walk majestic on our stage, And when we hold the mirror up to Nature, She, seeing her face therein, shall not be ashamed | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A SPIRIT PASSED BEFORE ME by GEORGE GORDON BYRON WHAT BEST I SEE; TO U.S.G. RETURN'D FROM HIS WORLD'S TOUR by WALT WHITMAN TO HELEN KELLER by FRANCES BEEBE THE PUZZLE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN I BLOW YOU A KISS by WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE |