  Tercentenary ode on Shakespeare read by the author at the anniversary concert, 1864. Three centuries have passed away Since that most famous April day, When the sweet, gentle Will was born, Whose name the age will e're adorn. That great Elizabethan age Does not leave on history's page, A name so bright he stands like Saul, A head and shoulders over all. Delineator of mankind, Who shows the workings of the mind, And in review in nature's glass, Portrays the thoughts of every class. That man is dull who will not laugh At the drolleries of Falstaff, And few that could not shed a tear At sorrows of poor old King Lear. Or lament o'er King Duncan's death Stabbed by the dagger of McBeth, Or gentle Desdemona pure, Slain by the misled jealous Moor. Or great Caesar mighty Roman Who o'ercame his country's foemen, His high deeds are all in vain, For by his countrymen he's slain. The greatest of heroic tales Is that of Harry, Prince of Wales, Who in combat fought so fiercely With the brave and gallant Percy. Imagination's grandest theme The tempest or midsummer's dream, And Hamlet's philosophic blaze Of shattered reason's flickering rays. And now in every land on earth They commemorate Shakespeare's birth, And there is met on Avon's banks Men of all nations and all ranks. And here upon Canadian Thames The gentle maids and comely dames Do meet and each does bring her scroll Of laurel leaves from Ingersoll. MILTON.Like mightiest organ in full tone, Melodious, grand, is great Milton, He did in lofty measures tell How Satan, great archangel, fell, When from heaven downward hurled; And how he ruined this our world, So full of guile he did deceive Our simple hearted parent Eve. He shows how pardon is obtained And paradise may be regained. COLERIDGE, SOUTHEY AND WORDSWORTH.England had triplets at a birth, Coleridge, Southey and Wordsworth, And these three are widely famed, And the "Lake Poets" they were named. With joy they did pursue their themes, 'Mong England's lakes and hills and streams, From there with gladness they could view The distant Scottish mountains blue. SHELLY.We have scarcely time to tell thee Of the strange and gifted Shelly, Kind hearted man but ill-fated, So youthful, drowned and cremated. BYRON.Poets they do pursue each theme, Under a gentle head of steam, Save one who needed fierce fire on, The brilliant, pasionate Byron. His child Harold's pilgrimage, Forever will the world engage; He fought with glory to release From Turkish yoke the isles of Greece, Its glories oft by him were sung, This wondrous bard, alas, died young. TENNYSON.Of our Laureate we now do sing, His youthful muse had daring wing, He then despised Baronhood, And sang 'twas noble to be good. None sang like him of knights of old, He England's glory did uphold; In wondrous song he hath arrayed Glorious charge of light brigade, And he hath the people's benison, Greatest of living poets Tennyson. DRYDEN AND POPE.Genius of Dryden and of Pope, Both did take a mighty scope, The first he virgil did translate, The second showed us Troys fate. On English themes they oft did sing And high their muses flight did wing. |
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