Algernon Charles Swinburne, 1882 (B. 1837)
“William Shakespeare.”
Not if men’s tongues and angels’ all in one
Spake, might the word be said that might speak thee.
Streams, winds, woods, flowers, fields, mountains, yea the sea,
What power is in them all to praise the sun?
His praise is this,—he can be praised of none.
Man, woman, child, praise God for him; but he
Exults not to be worshipped, but to be.
He is; and, being, beholds his work well done.
All joy, all glory, all sorrow, all strength, all mirth,
Are his: without him, day were night on earth.
Time knows not his from time’s own period.
All lutes, all harps, all viols, all flutes, all lyres,
Fall dumb before him ere one string suspires.
All stars are angels; but the sun is God.
Tristram of Lyonesse and other Poems. 1882, p. 280.
See also Mr. Swinburne’s An Autumn Vision, October 31, 1889.