| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | IV. To Shakespeare | | By Frances Anne Kemble (1809–1893) |
| | | IF from the height of that celestial sphere | |
| Where now thou dwell’st, spirit powerful and sweet! | |
| Thou yet canst love the race that sojourn here, | |
| How must thou joy, with pleasure not unmeet | |
| For thy exalted state, to know how dear | 5 |
| Thy memory is held throughout the earth, | |
| Beyond the favored land that gave thee birth. | |
| E’en in thy seat in heaven, thou mayst receive | |
| Thanks, praise, and love, and wonder ever new, | |
| From human hearts, who in thy verse perceive | 10 |
| All that humanity calls good and true; | |
| Nor dost thou for each mortal blemish grieve. | |
| They from thy glorious works have fallen away, | |
| As from thy soul its outward form of clay. | | | | |
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