Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


GODDARD AND LYCIDAS by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER

First Line: TWO DIRGES BY TWO POETS HAVE I READ
Last Line: AND GAINED, BY LOWLIER MEANS, A SWEETER END.
Subject(s): GODDARD, FREDERICK WILLIAM (D. 1820); KING, EDWARD (1612-1637); MILTON, JOHN (1608-1674); POETRY & POETS; WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM (1770-1850);

Two dirges by two poets have I read,
By two great masters of our English tongue;
One for the youth who rests his drowned head
Upon the mighty harp of him who sung
The loss of Eden; and the other, warm
From Wordsworth's gentle heart, o'er Goddard's grave,
By Keller raised, near Zurich's stormy wave -
Both beautiful, with each its proper charm;
The one so glorious - we are fain to blend
The name of Lycidas with that wild sea,
Where sank to deathless fame the poet's friend:
The other, with a humbler purpose penned,
Set one poor mother's stifled sorrows free,
And gained, by lowlier means, a sweeter end.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net