Explore "In Procession" by Robert Graves on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Donne (for example's sake), / Keats, Marlowe, Spenser, Blake, / Shelley and Milton, / Shakespeare and Chaucer, Skelton -- / We love them as we know them, / But who could dare outgo them / At their several arts, / At their particular parts / Of wisdom, power and knowledge? / In the Poets' College / Are no degrees nor stations, / Comparisons, rivals, / Stern examinations, / Class declarations, / Senior survivals; / No creeds, religions, nations / Combatant together / With mutual damnations. / Or tell me whether / Shelley's hand could take / The laurel wreath from Blake? / Could Shakespeare make the less / Chaucer's goodliness?
The poets of old, / Each with his pen of gold / Gloriously writing, / Found no need for fighting, / In common being so rich; / None need take the ditch, / Unless this Chaucer beats / That Chaucer, or this Keats / With other Keats is flyting: / See Donne deny Donne's feats, / Shelley take Shelley down, / Blake snatch at his own crown. / Without comparison aiming high, / Watching with no jealous eye / A neighbour's renown, / Each in his time contended, / But with a mood late ended, / Some manner now put by, / Or force expended, / Sinking a new well when the old ran dry.