Structurally a great poem; historically a great poem;
philosophically a great poem; so rendered for us in noble English
diction as to be worthy in any comparison of diction, structure,
ancestry, thought! Why should we not study it in our English
School, if only for purpose of comparison? I conclude with these
words of Lord Latymer:
There is nothing comparable with it except the "Prometheus
Bound" of Aeschylus. It is eternal, illimitable ... its scope
is the relation between God and Man. It is a vast liberation, a
great gaol-delivery of the spirit of Man; nay, rather a great
Acquittal.
[Footnote 1: It is fair to say that Myers cancelled the Damascus
stanza in his final edition.]