Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79. | | | | Introductory to Sweden | | The King of Sweden | | William Wordsworth (1770–1850) |
| | | THE VOICE of song from distant lands shall call | |
| To that great king; shall hail the crownéd youth | |
| Who, taking counsel of unbending Truth, | |
| By one example hath set forth to all | |
| How they with dignity may stand,—or fall, | 5 |
| If fall they must. Now, whither doth it tend? | |
| And what to him and his shall be the end? | |
| That thought is one which neither can appall | |
| Nor cheer him; for the illustrious Swede hath done | |
| The thing which ought to be; he stands above | 10 |
| All consequences: work he hath begun | |
| Of fortitude and piety and love, | |
| Which all his glorious ancestors approve: | |
| The heroes bless him,—him their rightful son. | | | | |
|
|
