As a Boy He Even Had the Start of His Phrase for the Male Quartet in ‘Blest Pair of Virgins’

As a Boy He Even Had the Start of His Phrase for the Male Quartet in ‘Blest Pair of Virgins’

The younger music sometimes opened to

A later depth three decades later, or

Perhaps a few years on.  One movement grew

In seriousness to be presented for

The Gloucester Festival and be performed,

‘Intermezzo Religioso,’ there.

That ‘bad’ Magnificat was later warmed

Through several incarnations, like the pair

Of versions of his Parry in D.  At

The last — just over three decades on— it

Advanced to his approved Magnificat.

His failures did not mean that he would quit.

..His pencil scribblings as a boy were changed,

….But only slightly, and then greatness ranged.

This poem is part of a shorter sonnet sequence within this large sonnet sequence called The Encyclopedia Sonnetica.  The shorter sonnet sequence is called “A Lively Hope.”  I recommend you read this poem where it is set in its sonnet sequence.  To do that, search for “A Lively Hope” here in The Encyclopedia Sonnetica, or you may see an illustrated version the entire shorter sequence at
https://classicalpoets.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/A-Lively-Hope.pdf 
where it was first published.