Where may not souls be found to greatness true? Born with no loftier hope or prouder aim Than lineage lowly, like his own, could claim, How did he guess at his immortal due? How was the fire first smitten from the steel? When came that strange enforcement of his will? How did his mind, 'mid poverty and ill, Find leisure to endow itself so well? Methinks, one summer's eve, he first did hear The rise and fall of music in his heart; Wild notes, a-dropping downward without art To a sweet close, that fell upon his ear Unutterably soft, and yet most clear, And seeming from his bosom's depth to start. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ALICE IN WONDERLAND: THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER by CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON THE VANISHING BOAT by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE IN THE MOONLIGHT by THOMAS HARDY TO THE PLIOCENE SKULL by FRANCIS BRET HARTE TO THE UNKNOWN EROS: BOOK 1: 12. MAGNA EST VERITAS by COVENTRY KERSEY DIGHTON PATMORE PETITION OF A SCHOOLBOY TO HIS FATHER by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |