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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SCORN NOW THE SONNET by DANIEL MACINTYRE HENDERSON

First Line: SCORN NOW THE SONNET -- THAT ENCHANTED REED
Last Line: THE RINGING SPLENDOR OF THE SONNETEER?
Subject(s): POETRY & POETS; SONNET (AS LITERARY FORM);

Scorn now the sonnet -- that enchanted reed
Italia wrought for Will of Avon's art;
Which in his blindness solaced Milton's heart;
Which rallied Sidney in his hour of need;
Which Wordsworth lifted, loveliness to plead;
Whereon Brooke sang the warrior's valorous part
Is now a penny flute in any mart --
Yea, Petrarch's pipe is as a broken weed!
Hark now these quavers -- poets their lips setting
To sing moon fancies on the sturdy horn --
Enamored of its glory, and forgetting
This trumpet for sublimity was born!
Hark, how it trembles! Shall we no more hear
The ringing splendor of the sonneteer?



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