Classic Poem

III

Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1809-1892

W OULD'ST know my place and stature among men?
Answered be thou as he who asks of Wren,
And reads engraven on the hallowed ground,
" Seeker, thou needest but to look around."
Thou, though with sight discomfited, survey
The various vision of Victoria's day;
New thoughts, new arts, new laws, new lore behold,
Yet the same mind indwelling as of old;
All in my song's vast harmony embraced,
The new enthroned, nor yet the old displaced;
Fields to thy view by hosts contending trod
Calm unto mine as to the eye of God:
Set then my soul that spacious scene beside,
And by its measure mine be certified:
I through the Spirit of that world alone,
He through me only truly to be known.