Crowned, girdled, garbed and shod with light and fire,
Son first-born of the morning, sovereign star!
Soul nearest ours of all, that wert most far.
Most far off in the abysm of time, thy lyre
Hung highest above the dawn-enkindled quire
Where all ye sang together, all that are,
And all the starry songs behind thy car
Rang sequence, all our souls acclaim thee sire.
“If all the pens that ever poets held
Had fed the feeling of their masters' thoughts,”
And as with rush of hurtling chariots
The flight of all their spirits were impelled
Toward one great end, thy glory-nay, not then,
Not yet might'st thou be praised enough of men.
Christopher Marlowe
Algernon Charles Swinburne
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Poem topics: car, fire, light, son, star, time, together, soul, flight, great, morning, dawn, Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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Write your comment about Christopher Marlowe poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne
Katherine stott: Swinburne rates Marlowe's poetry; "sublime" I in turn rate Swinburne's homage to Marlowe (in this poem) as equally sublime. Marlowe is attributed god-like status, as "Son first-born of the morning, sovereign star" Contempoary readers may find this eulogising rather mawkish, but I believe Swinburne, genuinely felt Marlowe's genius being above any other poet, meant that his; "soul nearest ours of all" was in fact, unearthly.
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