Anonymous

Shakespeare’s Monument at Stratford-upon-Avon

GREAT Homer’s birth seven rival cities claim,
Too mighty such monopoly of fame;
Yet not to birth alone did Homer owe
His wondrous worth; what Egypt could bestow,
With all the schools of Greece and Asia joined,
Enlarged the immense expansion of his mind.
Nor yet unrivalled the Mæonian strain,
The British Eagle, and the Mantuan Swan
Tower equal heights. But, happier Stratford, thou
With incontested laurels deck thy brow;	
Thy Bard was thine unschooled, and from thee brought
More than all Egypt, Greece, or Asia taught.
Not Homer’s self such matchless honors won;
The Greek has rivals, but thy Shakespeare none.