Note 27 — Early Poems (continued 2)

1833. There deep-haired Milton like an angel tall Stood limnèd, Shakspeare bland and mild, Grim Dante pressed his lips, and from the wall The bald blind Homer smiled. Recast in its present form in 1842. After this stanza in 1833 appear the following stanzas, excised in 1842:— And underneath fresh carved in cedar wood, Somewhat alike in form and face, The Genii of every climate stood, All brothers of one race: Angels who sway the seasons by their art, And mould all shapes in earth and sea; And with great effort build the human heart From earliest infancy. And in the sun-pierced Oriels’ coloured flame Immortal Michæl Angelo Looked down, bold Luther, large-browed Verulam, The King of those who know.[A] Cervantes, the bright face of Calderon, Robed David touching holy strings, The Halicarnassean, and alone, Alfred the flower of kings. Isaiah with fierce Ezekiel, Swarth Moses by the Coptic sea, Plato, Petrarca, Livy, and Raphael, And eastern Confutzer.