• From “Paradise Lost,” Book III.
    HAIL, holy Light, offspring of Heaven first-born!
    Or of the Eternal coeternal beam
    May I express thee unblamed? since God is light,
    And never but in unapproachèd light
    Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee,
    Bright effluence of bright essence increate!
    Or hear’st thou rather pure ethereal stream,
    ...

  • From “The Davideis”
    AWAKE, awake, my Lyre!
    And tell thy silent master’s humble tale
    In sounds that may prevail;
    Sounds that gentle thoughts inspire:
    Though so exalted she,
    And I so lowly be,
    Tell her, such different notes make all thy harmony.

    Hark! how the strings awake:
    And, though the moving hand approach not near,...