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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


WOLF AND THE CASKET; OR THE UNITY OF THE ILIAD by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER

First Line: THOUGH WOLF, IN HYPERCRITIC ZEAL, INSISTS
Last Line: THE WAR FROM FIGHT TO FIGHT, FROM BOOK TO BOOK.
Subject(s): HOMER (10TH CENTURY B.C.); POETRY & POETS; WOLF, FRIEDRICH AUGUST (1795-1824); ILIAD; ODYSSEY;

Though Wolf, in hypercritic zeal, insists
On breaking up that old Ionian harp,
And parcels out to many melodists
The Chian's lonely fame, - he cannot warp
Our common sense, pervert our natural taste;
Great Aristotle, and that warrior-youth
Of old, held simpler views of Epic truth;
Master and pupil felt his unity;
And, when the monarch in his casket placed
The roll, the verdict of a world he took:
In truth, a plural Homer cannot be!
One Muse maintains the quarrels and the loves,
One ardent voice, like Heaven-sent Ossa, moves
The war from fight to fight, from book to book.



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