| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 436. To England |
| | | By George Henry Boker |
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| LEAR and Cordelia! ’t was an ancient tale | |
| Before thy Shakespeare gave it deathless fame: | |
| The times have changed, the moral is the same. | |
| So like an outcast, dowerless, and pale, | |
| Thy daughter went; and in a foreign gale | 5 |
| Spread her young banner, till its sway became | |
| A wonder to the nations. Days of shame | |
| Are close upon thee: prophets raise their wail. | |
| When the rude Cossack with an outstretched hand | |
| Points his long spear across the narrow sea,— | 10 |
| “Lo! there is England!” when thy destiny | |
| Storms on thy straw-crowned head, and thou dost stand | |
| Weak, helpless, mad, a by-word in the land,— | |
| God grant thy daughter a Cordelia be! | |
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