Round 1580 - so some scholars write - <br />the finest poets of England sought accord <br />on what fine form of verse might most delight, <br />and render fullest homage to our Lord. <br /> <br />They found iambics, in a five-foot line <br />tuned best with English speech to native ears: <br />more simple, steady, musical in mind <br />than Racine's stately tread of French hexameters. <br /> <br />The thoughts sublime which these our poets teach <br />-Sidney's sonnets, Shakespeare's poems and plays - <br />enter our ears in childhood, shape our speech, <br />and tune our hearts to hear, and speak, God's ways; <br /> <br />in still and silent rapture there to find <br />the music of that other world: God's mind.<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/0187-1580-ish/
