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

What passion cannot Music raise and quell?

When Jubal[4] struck the corded shell,[5]

His list'ning brethren stood around,

And, wond'ring, on their faces fell

To worship that celestial sound, 20

Less than a god they thought there could not dwell

Within the hollow of that shell

That spoke so sweetly and so well.

What passion cannot Music raise and quell?

The trumpet's loud clangor 25

Excites us to arms,

With shrill notes of anger

And mortal alarms.[6]

The double double double beat

Of the thundering drum 30

Cries, "Hark, the foes come!

Charge, charge, 't is too late to retreat!"