Sonnets on English Dramatic Poets (1590-1650): George Chapman
By Algernon Charles Swinburne
High priest of Homer, not elect in vain,
Deep trumpets blow before thee, shawms behind
Mix music with the rolling wheels that wind
Slow through the labouring triumph of thy train:
Fierce history, molten in thy forging brain,
Takes form and fire and fashion from thy mind,
Tormented and transmuted out of kind:
But howsoeer thou shift thy strenuous strain,
Like Tailor1 smooth, like Fisher2 swollen, and now
Grim Yarrington3 scarce bloodier marked than thou,
Then bluff as Maynes4 or broad-mouthed Barrys5 glee ,
Proud still with hoar predominance of brow
And beard like foam swept off the broad blown sea,
Whereer thou go, mens reverence goes with thee.