Selections from Five English Poets

From harmony,[1] from heavenly harmony

This universal frame[2] began.

When Nature underneath a heap

Of jarring atoms lay,

And could not heave her head, 5

The tuneful voice was heard from high:

"Arise, ye more than dead!"

Then cold and hot and moist and dry

In order to their stations leap,

And Music's power obey. 10

From harmony, from heavenly harmony

This universal frame began;

From harmony to harmony

Through all the compass of the notes it ran,

The diapason closing full in Man.[3] 15