The Spirit Of Shakespeare

George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)



Thy greatest knew thee, Mother Earth; unsoured
He knew thy sons. He probed from hell to hell
Of human passions, but of love deflowered
His wisdom was not, for he knew thee well.
Thence came the honeyed corner at his lips,
The conquering smile wherein his spirit sails
Calm as the God who the white sea-wave whips,
Yet full of speech and intershifting tales,
Close mirrors of us: thence had he the laugh
We feel is thine: broad as ten thousand beeves
At pasture! thence thy songs, that winnow chaff
From grain, bid sick Philosophy's last leaves
Whirl, if they have no response-they enforced
To fatten Earth when from her soul divorced.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
77

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDCDECEFAA
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 642
Words 114
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

George Meredith

George Meredith was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times. more…

All George Meredith poems | George Meredith Books

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