IMMEASURABLE distance up aloft in azure blue,
Storm-fed on hailstones, thunders, mountain dew;
Archetypal standard of the human race,
Of Freedom's standard now usurping place,
Full-orbed and semispherical
With convoluted outline full of intricate design,
Yet hard and hollow as a woman's heart;
Supported on a vertical
And heaven-piercing shaft, almost divine
Thou seemest, yet thou art
The same which once on earth we knew.
Voracious monster, gorged with slimiest slime,
Vile, seeking darkness hid from view
Below, deep down below, from where man's time
Of soul-refreshing spirit-life is passed,
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Lectures on English Novelists.