The Defence Of Lucknow Poem Rhyme Scheme

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I	A
BANNER of England not for a season O banner of Britain hast thou	B
Floated in conquering battle or flapt to the battle cry	A
Never with mightier glory than when we had rear d thee on high	A
Flying at top of the roofs in the ghastly siege of Lucknow	C
Shot thro the staff or the halyard but ever we raised thee anew	C
And ever upon the topmost roof our banner of England blew	C
	-
II	A
Frail were the works that defended the hold that we held with our lives	D
Women and children among us God help them our children and wives	E
Hold it we might and for fifteen days or for twenty at most	F
Never surrender I charge you but every man die at his post	F
Voice of the dead whom we loved our Lawrence the best of the brave	G
Cold were his brows when we kiss d him we laid him that night in his grave	G
Every man die at his post and there hail d on our houses and halls	H
Death from their rifle bullets and death from their cannon balls	H
Death in our innermost chamber and death at our slight barricade	I
Death while we stood with the musket and death while we stoopt to the spade	I
Death to the dying and wounds to the wounded for often there fell	J
Striking the hospital wall crashing thro it their shot and their shell	J
Death for their spies were among us their marksmen were told of our best	K
So that the brute bullet broke thro the brain that could think for the rest	K
Bullets would sing by our foreheads and bullets would rain at our feet	L
Fire from ten thousand at once of the rebels that girdled us round	M
Death at the glimpse of a finger from over the breadth of a street	L
Death from the heights of the mosque and the palace and death in the ground	M
Mine yes a mine Countermine down down and creep thro the hole	N
Keep the revolver in hand you can hear him the murderous mole	N
Quiet ah quiet wait till the point of the pickaxe be thro	A
Click with the pick coming nearer and nearer again than before	A
Now let it speak and you fire and the dark pioneer is no more	A
And ever upon the topmost roof our banner of England blew	C
	-
III	A
Ay but the foe sprung his mine many times and it chanced on a day	O
Soon as the blast of that underground thunderclap echo d away	O
Dark thro the smoke and the sulphur like so many fiends in their hell	J
Cannon shot musket shot volley on volley and yell upon yell	J
Fiercely on all the defences our myriad enemy fell	J
What have they done where is it Out yonder Guard the Redan	C
Storm at the Water gate storm at the Bailey gate storm and it ran	C
Surging and swaying all round us as ocean on every side	P
Plunges and heaves at a bank that is daily devour d by the tide	P
So many thousands that if they be bold enough who shall escape	Q
Kill or be kill d live or die they shall know we are soldiers and men	C
Ready take aim at their leaders their masses are gapp d with our grape	Q
Backward they reel like the wave like the wave flinging forward again	C
Flying and foil d at the last by the handful they could not subdue	C
And ever upon the topmost roof our banner of England blew	C
	-
IV	G
Handful of men as we were we were English in heart and in limb	R
Strong with the strength of the race to command to obey to endure	A
Each of us fought as if hope for the garrison hung but on him	R
Still could we watch at all points we were every day fewer and fewer	A
There was a whisper among us but only a whisper that past	S
Children and wives if the tigers leap into the fold unawares	T
Every man die at his post and the foe may outlive us at last	S
Better to fall by the hands that they love than to fall into theirs	T
Roar upon roar in a moment two mines by the enemy sprung	U
Clove into perilous chasms our walls and our poor palisades	V
Rifleman true is your heart but be sure that your hand be as true	C
Sharp is the fire of assault better aimed are your flank fusillades	V
Twice do we hurl them to earth from the ladders to which they had clung	U
Twice from the ditch where they shelter we drive them with hand grenades	V
And ever upon the topmost roof our banner of England blew	C
	-
V	G
Then on another wild morning another wild earthquake out tore	A
Clean from our lines of defence ten or twelve good paces or more	A
Rifleman high on the roof hidden there from the light of the sun	C
One has leapt up on the breach crying out Follow me follow me	G
Mark him he falls then another and him too and down goes he	G
Had they been bold enough then who can tell but the traitors had won	C
Boardings and rafters and doors an embrasure I make way for the gun	C
Now double charge it with grape It is charged and we fire and they run	C
Praise to our Indian brothers and let the dark face have his due	C
Thanks to the kindly dark faces who fought with us faithful and few	C
Fought with the bravest among us and drove them and smote them and slew	C
That ever upon the topmost roof our banner in India blew	C
	-
VI	G
Men will forget what we suffer and not what we do We can fight	W
But to be soldier all day and be sentinel all thro the night	W
Ever the mine and assault our sallies their lying alarms	V
Bugles and drums in the darkness and shoutings and soundings to arms	V
Ever the labour of fifty that had to be done by five	G
Ever the marvel among us that one should be left alive	G
Ever the day with its traitorous death from the loopholes around	M
Ever the night with its coffinless corpse to be laid in the ground	M
Heat like the mouth of a hell or a deluge of cataract skies	V
Stench of old offal decaying and infinite torment of flies	V
Thoughts of the breezes of May blowing over an English field	X
Cholera scurvy and fever the wound that would not be heal d	G
Lopping away of the limb by the pitiful pitiless knife	G
Torture and trouble in vain for it never could save us a life	G
Valour of delicate women who tended the hospital bed	Y
Horror of women in travail among the dying and dead	Y
Grief for our perishing children and never a moment for grief	G
Toil and ineffable weariness faltering hopes of relief	G
Havelock baffled or beaten or butcher d for all that we knew	C
Then day and night day and night coming down on the still shatter d walls	V
Millions of musket bullets and thousands of cannon balls	V
But ever upon the topmost roof our banner of England blew	C
	-
VII	G
Hark cannonade fusillade is it true what was told by the scout	Z
Outram and Havelock breaking their way through the fell mutineers	V
Surely the pibroch of Europe is ringing again in our ears	V
All on a sudden the garrison utter a jubilant shout	Z
Havelock s glorious Highlanders answer with conquering cheers	V
Sick from the hospital echo them women and children come out	Z
Blessing the wholesome white faces of Havelock s good fusileers	V
Kissing the war harden d hand of the Highlander wet with their tears	V
Dance to the pibroch saved we are saved is it you is it you	C
Saved by the valour of Havelock saved by the blessing of Heaven	C
Hold it for fifteen days we have held it for eighty seven	C
And ever aloft on the palace roof the old banner of England blew	C

Alfred Lord Tennyson

The Defence Of Lucknow Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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