Wide o’er the fields of glory bear
Two coursers of ethereal race
With necks in thunder clothed, and long resounding pace.
The equaling of Milton with Shakspere by Gray reminds of Tennyson in his “Palace of Art:”
And there was Milton, like a seraph strong,
Beside him Shakspere bland and mild.
But Tennyson has something more elaborate on Milton. This happens to be in one of his experimental pieces. Trying that master hand of his—turned “’prentice” on this occasion—at alcaics, a meter not often attempted in English, he makes Milton his inspiration:
O mighty-mouthed inventor of harmonies,
O skill’d to sing of Time or Eternity,
God-gifted organ-voice of England,