Shakespeare unlocked his heart; the melody
Of this small lute gave ease to Petrarch’s wound
A thousand times this pipe did Tasso sound;
With it Camoens soothed an exile’s grief;
The Sonnet glittered a gay mirtle leaf
Amid the cypress with which Dante crowned
His visionary brow; a glowworm lamp
It cheered mild Spenser, called from Faery-land
To struggle through dark ways; and when a damp
Fell round the path of Milton, in his hand