At this moment that is the only kind of patriotic poem that could
satisfy the emotions of a patriotic person. But it certainly is not
the sort of poem that is expected from a Poet Laureate, either on
the highest or the lowest theory of his office. He is either a great
minstrel singing the victories of a great king, or he is a common Court
official like the Groom of the Powder Closet. In the first case his
praises should be true; in the second case they will nearly always be
false; but in either case he must praise. And what there is for him to
praise just now it would be precious hard to say. And if there is no
great hope of a real poet, there is still less hope of a real prophet.
What Newman called, I think, “The Prophetical Office,” that is, the
institution of an inspired protest even against an inspired religion,
certainly would not do in modern England. The Court is not likely to
keep a tame prophet in order to encourage him to be wild. It is not
likely to pay a man to say that wolves shall howl in Downing-street and
vultures build their nests in Buckingham Palace. So vast has been the
progress of humanity that these two things are quite impossible. We
cannot have a great poet praising kings. We cannot have a great prophet
denouncing kings. So I have to fall back on a third suggestion.