Year of Seeds, The - Part 1
DEPLORING ITS UNWORTHINESS THE MORE, BECAUSE EXCELLENCE ALONE CAN HARMONIZE WITH WORTH LIKE HIS; AND ALTHOUGH HIS BROTHER FOXHUNTERS WILL MARVEL WHY SUCH A COMPOSITION SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO ONE OF THEM; — I DEDICATE THIS CYCLE OF REVOLUTIONARY SONNETS .
Toy of the Titans! Tiny Harp! again
I quarrel with the order of thy strings,
Establish'd by the law of sonnet-kings,
And us'd by giants who do nought in vain.
Was Petrarch, then mistaken in the strain
That charms Italia? Were they tasteless things.
That Milton wrought? And are they mutterings
Untuneful, that pay Wordsworth with pleas'd pain?
No. But I see that tyrants come of slaves;
That states are won by rush of robber's steel;
And millions starv'd and tortur'd to their graves,
Because as they are taught men think and feel;
Therefore, I change the sonnet's slavish notes
For cheaper music, suited to my thoughts.
Toy of the Titans! Tiny Harp! again
I quarrel with the order of thy strings,
Establish'd by the law of sonnet-kings,
And us'd by giants who do nought in vain.
Was Petrarch, then mistaken in the strain
That charms Italia? Were they tasteless things.
That Milton wrought? And are they mutterings
Untuneful, that pay Wordsworth with pleas'd pain?
No. But I see that tyrants come of slaves;
That states are won by rush of robber's steel;
And millions starv'd and tortur'd to their graves,
Because as they are taught men think and feel;
Therefore, I change the sonnet's slavish notes
For cheaper music, suited to my thoughts.
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