1. By William Shakespeare

    1. Sonnet 18 (1609)
    2. Sonnet 20 (1609)

  2. By John Milton

    1. Sonnet 11 (1643)
    2. Sonnet 11 (1647)
    3. Sonnet 13 (1648)

  3. By Andrew Marvell

    1. Bermudas (1653)

  4. By William Wordsworth

    1. The World is Too Much with Us (1807)
    2. We are Seven (1798)

  5. By Joseph Conrad

    1. Heart of Darkness (1902)

Sonnet 13

To Mr. H. Lawes, on his Aires

By John Milton (1648)

1Harry whose tuneful and well measur’d Song
2        First taught our English Musick how to span
3        Words with just note and accent, not to scan
4        With Midas Ears, committing short and long;

5Thy worth and skill exempts thee from the throng,
6        With praise enough for Envy to look wan;
7        To after age thou shalt be writ the man,
8        That with smooth aire couldst humor best our tongue.

9Thou honour’st Verse, and Verse must lend her wing
10        To honour thee, the Priest of Phoebus Quire
11        That tun’st their happiest lines in Hymn, or Story.

12Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher
13        Then his Casella, whom he woo’d to sing
14        Met in the milder shades of Purgatory.