Read "To Shakespeare after Three Hundred Years" by Thomas Hardy online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
BRIGHT baffling Soul, least capturable of themes, / Thou, who display'dst a life of common-place, / Leaving no intimate word or personal trace / Of high design outside the artistry / Of thy penned dreams, / Still shalt remain at heart unread eternally.
Through human orbits thy discourse to-day, / Despite thy formal pilgrimage, throbs on / In harmonies that cow Oblivion, / And, like the wind, with all-uncared effect / Maintain a sway / Not fore-desired, in tracks unchosen and unchecked.