Eugene Lee-Hamilton

One old classic writer not to be forgotten is Eugene Lee-Hamilton [1845-1907], more info here, who wrote great Victorian verse. No matter what the topic, his poetry is beautiful and almost relaxed--a type of Petrarchan mood, I think. He's compared to Browning, who I don't like very much--he's much superior.

Here's his sonnet entitled "What the Sonnet Is" from here at Sonnets.org; I also like his "An Elegy on the Death of a Lady", which is here:

Fourteen small broidered berries on the hem

Of Circe's mantle, each of magic gold;

Fourteen of lone Calypso's tears that rolled

Into the sea, for pearls to come of them;

Fourteen clear signs of omen in the gem

With which Medea human fate foretold;

Fourteen small drops, which Faustus, growing old,

Craved of the Fiend, to water Life's dry stem.

It is the pure white diamond Dante brought

To Beatrice; the sapphire Laura wore

When Petrarch cut it sparkling out of thought;

The ruby Shakespeare hewed from his heart's core;

The dark, deep emerald that Rossetti wrought

For his own soul, to wear for evermore.