[Editor: This poem by Mary Eliza Fullerton was published in Moods and Melodies: Sonnets and Lyrics (1908).]
The Artist
How came this picture? By your hand, I know,
Poured from your boundless soul to fit a frame.
The Art is not the wonder, but the flame
That makes it infinite. How much you owe
That uncouth savage of the long ago
Who, gazing on the morning as it came
Across his forest, felt but knew no name
For the quick flash that lit an inner glow.
That thrill inspires this picture; and all Art,
That holds some hint, some touch, some tone, some wore
That sweeps along the tideways of the heart,
Sets us on charmed shores ’mid sounds new heard:
We are his children who are raised and stirred,
And you, his child, and Shakespere, and Mozart.
Source:
Mary E. Fullerton, Moods and Melodies: Sonnets and Lyrics, Melbourne: Thomas C. Lothian, 1908, p. 40
Editor’s notes:
’mid = an abbreviation of “amid” or “amidst”: of or in the middle of an area, group, position, etc.
Shakespere = William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright and poet; “Shakespere” is an alternative spelling of “Shakespeare”; the surname was commonly spelt as “Shakspeare”, “Shakspere”, and “Shakespeare”, with several other variations also appearing in print; there are only a handful of documents which exist with the playwright’s unabbreviated signature, with the surname being spelt as “Shaksper”, “Shakspere”, and “Shakspeare”, with the “Shakspere” spelling being slightly the most numerous (also, the baptismal records of his three children used the name “Shakspere”); however, the “Shakespeare” spelling is the most commonly used in modern times
See: 1) David Kathman, “The spelling and pronunciation of Shakespeare’s name”, The Shakespeare Authorship Page
2) “Spelling of Shakespeare’s name”, Wikipedia
3) John Louis Haney, The Name of William Shakespeare: A Study in Orthography, Philadelphia: The Egerton Press, 1906 [see p. 12 re. his children’s baptismal records]
Mozart = Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), an Austrian composer
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