If Shakespeare is the Abbey, a shrine and shell Of bygone dynasties and regnal glory, Then Chaucer, licensed by like allegory, Is medieval Southwark's church, whose bell Incited palmer Mirth his tales to tell And drew dan English from his dormitory. Think also what a labyrinth of story The Tower is, which is Spenser; and mark well How Paul's, in sun or mist a Milton, keeps Dome lifted above dome to be light's tent. What else? There's London Bridge that overleaps The warehoused tideway—Dickens seeking Kent!— Not unespied of the white Monument, That spectre in the City and ghost of Pepys: That pillar upbreathed from heaps Of ashes so renewed that not even Pope Might find there for old sarcasm present scope, But rather nurse the hope That if his own correctness win through war, It shall be—where the shining Horse Guards are. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE JOBHOLDER by DAVID IGNATOW TO THE ROCK THAT WILL BE A CORNERSTONE OF THE HOUSE by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE PITY OF IT by THOMAS HARDY THE DORCHESTER GIANT by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES HURRAHING IN HARVEST by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS THE SHEPHEARDES CALENDER: JANUARY by EDMUND SPENSER |