SONNET.—HOMER.
Reading edition
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BY WM. ALEXANDER.
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Great Melesigenes! erst, poor and blind,
A wanderer didst thou sing thy Epic verse,
Which peasants, princes equally rehearse,
And act thy characters of lofty mind—
War’s trump Calliope aloud doth blow,
When telling of fair Ilium’s famous towers,
Which Greece beleaguered with her mighty powers,
Led by Pelides, Hector’s sternest foe—
Fair Helen’s beauty thou dost there portray,
Whom gallant, bold old generals admire;
Speaking, too, of his rovings wild and ire,
Whose bended bow doth the wild suitors slay—
The story of thy heroes; scenes of old,
Demands, by right, a shining case of gold.