| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | I. On the Fifty-fifth Sonnet of Shakespeare | | By George Henry Calvert (1803–1889) |
| | | THE SOUL leaps up to hear this mighty sound, | |
| Of Shakespeare triumphing. With glistening eye, | |
| Forward he sent his spirit, to espy | |
| Time’s gratitude, and catch the far rebound | |
| Of fame from worlds unpeopled yet; and, crowned | 5 |
| With brightening light through all futurity, | |
| His image to behold up-reaching high, | |
| ’Mongst the world’s benefactors most renowned. | |
| Like to the ecstasy, by man unnamed, | |
| The spheral music doth to gods impart, | 10 |
| Was the deep joy that thou hast here proclaimed | |
| Thy song’s eternal echo gave thy heart. | |
| O, the world thanks thee that thou ’st let us see, | |
| Thou knew’st how great thou wast, how prized to be! | | | | |
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