Brian Patten was commissioned to write a St George's day poem. He says it contains a line from Shakespeare too, as it's Shakespeare's birthday. Which line is it?

The True Dragon by Brian Patten

St George was out walking
He met a dragon on a hill,
It was wise and wonderful
Too glorious to kill

It slept amongst the wild thyme
Where the oxlips and violets grow
Its skin was a luminous fire
That made the English landscape glow

Its tears were England’s crystal rivers
Its breath the mist on England’s moors
Its larder was England’s orchards,
Its house was without doors

St George was in awe of it
It was a thing apart
He hid the sleeping dragon
Inside every English heart

So on this day let’s celebrate
England’s valleys full of light,
The green fire of the landscape
Lakes shivering with delight

Let’s celebrate St George’s Day,
The dragon in repose;
The brilliant lark ascending,
The yew, the oak, the rose.

Did you hear this on Radio 4? I think it was the other poem by the Scot that had the line from Henry V

The lines "wild thyme
Where the oxslips and violets grow"

are from A Midsummer Night's Dream

Yes of course it is supposedly Shakespeares birthday but if you read Bill Bryson's book on Shakespeare you would know that it was not until 3 May!

Thanks Marina - I feel educated now!

Clarice - I did, and I loved the other poem! Which is the line from Henry V? And what's Bill Bryson's book on Shakespeare? - I didn't know he'd written one.

what marina said

Can't remember the other poem.

Bill Bryson has written a very entertaining book on Shakespeare - written in his entertaining style but quite informative too in that most of what we "know" about Shakespeare is conjecture and supposition!

By George! by Elvis Mcgonagall

Once more unto the breach, dear Morris Dancers
once more
Jingle your bells, thwack sticks, raise flagons
Cry “God for Harry and Saint George!”
Gallant knight and slayer of dragons
Patron saint of merry England –
And Georgia, and Catalonia, and Portugal, Beirut, Moscow
Istanbul, Germany, Greece
Archers, farmers, boy scouts, butchers and sufferers of
syphilis
Multicultural icon with sword and codpiece
On, on you bullet-headed saxon sons
Fly flags from white van and cab
But remember stout yeomen, your champion was Turkish
So – get drunk and have a kebab

The Once more unto the breach is Henry V