The Revenge Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BBCDEFC DGHDI BJKLJLMIM NNO O PGQP LLLRR SSTUUT VWVBBBW XXKUUK U UUYYYHH UZA2B2A2C2C2Z U UD2D2UIUI E2XF2F2NGGHHGII U UULLL U GG2UF2H2H2 F2 L H2I2H2H2I2H2J2I2J2H2 H2UIUI

A Ballad of the FleetA
-
-
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I-
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At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville layB
And a pinnace like a fluttered bird came flying from far awayB
Spanish ships of war at sea we have sighted fifty threeC
Then sware Lord Thomas Howard 'Fore God I am no cowardD
But I cannot meet them here for my ships are out of gearE
And the half my men are sick I must fly but follow quickF
We are six ships of the line can we fight with fifty threeC
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II-
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Then spake Sir Richard Grenville I know you are no cowardD
You fly them for a moment to fight with them againG
But I've ninety men and more that are lying sick ashoreH
I should count myself the coward if I left them my Lord HowardD
To these Inquisition dogs and the devildoms of SpainI
-
III-
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So Lord Howard passed away with five ships of war that dayB
Till he melted like a cloud in the silent summer heavenJ
But Sir Richard bore in hand all his sick men from the landK
Very carefully and slowL
Men of Bideford in DevonJ
And we laid them on the ballast down belowL
For we brought them all aboardM
And they blest him in their pain that they were not left to SpainI
To the thumbscrew and the stake for the glory of the LordM
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IV-
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He had only a hundred seamen to work the ship and to fightN
And he sailed away from Flores till the Spaniard came in sightN
With his huge sea castles heaving upon the weather bowO
Shall we fight or shall we fly-
Good Sir Richard tell us nowO
For to fight is but to die-
There'll be little of us left by the time this sun be setP
And Sir Richard said again We be all good English menG
Let us bang these dogs of Seville the children of the devilQ
For I never turn'd my back upon Don or devil yetP
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V-
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Sir Richard spoke and he laughed and we roared a hurrah and soL
The little Revenge ran on sheer into the heart of the foeL
With her hundred fighters on deck and her ninety sick belowL
For half of their fleet to the right and half to the left were seenR
And the little Revenge ran on through the long sea lane betweenR
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VI-
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Thousands of their soldiers looked down from their decks and laughedS
Thousands of their seamen made mock at the mad little craftS
Running on and on till delayedT
By their mountain like San Philip that of fifteen hundred tonsU
And up shadowing high above us with her yawning tiers of gunsU
Took the breath from our sails and we stayedT
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VII-
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And while now the great San Philip hung above us like a cloudV
Whence the thunderbolt will fallW
Long and loudV
Four galleons drew awayB
From the Spanish fleet that dayB
And two upon the larboard and two upon the starboard layB
And the battle thunder broke from them allW
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VIII-
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But anon the great San Philip she bethought herself and wentX
Having that within her womb that had left her ill contentX
And the rest they came aboard us and they fought us hand to handK
For a dozen times they came with their pikes and musqueteersU
And a dozen times we shook 'em off as a dog that shakes his earsU
When he leaps from the water to the landK
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IXU
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And the sun went down and the stars came out far over the summer seaU
But never a moment ceased the fight of the one and the fifty threeU
Ship after ship the whole night long their high built galleons cameY
Ship after ship the whole night long with her battle thunder and flameY
Ship after ship the whole night long drew back with her dead and her shameY
For some were sunk and many were shattered and so could fight us no moreH
God of battles was ever a battle like this in the world beforeH
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XU
For he said Fight on fight onZ
Though his vessel was all but a wreckA2
And it chanced that when half of the short summer night was goneB2
With a grisly wound to be dressed he had left the deckA2
But a bullet struck him that was dressing it suddenly deadC2
And himself he was wounded again in the side and the headC2
And he said Fight on fight onZ
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XIU
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And the night went down and the sun smiled out far over the summer seaU
And the Spanish fleet with broken sides lay round us all in a ringD2
But they dared not touch us again for they fear'd that we still could stingD2
So they watched what the end would beU
And we had not fought them in vainI
But in perilous plight were weU
Seeing forty of our poor hundred were slainI
And half of the rest of us maimed for life-
In the crash of the cannonades and the desperate strife-
And the sick men down in the hold were most of them stark and coldE2
And the pikes were all broken or bent and the powder was all of it spentX
And the masts and the rigging were lying over the sideF2
But Sir Richard cried in his English prideF2
We have fought such a fight for a day and a nightN
As may never be fought againG
We have won great glory my menG
And a day less or moreH
At sea or ashoreH
We die does it matter whenG
Sink me the ship Master Gunner sink her split her in twainI
Fall into the hands of God not into the hands of SpainI
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XIIU
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And the gunner said Ay ay but the seamen made reply-
We have children we have wivesU
And the Lord hath spared our livesU
We will make the Spaniard promise if we yield to let us goL
We shall live to fight again and to strike another blowL
And the lion there lay dying and they yielded to the foeL
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XIIIU
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And the stately Spanish men to their flagship bore him thenG
Where they laid him by the mast old Sir Richard caught at lastG2
And they praised him to his face with their courtly foreign graceU
But he rose upon their decks and he criedF2
I have fought for Queen and Faith like a valiant man and trueH2
I have only done my duty as a man is bound to doH2
With a joyful spirit I Sir Richard Grenville die-
And he fell upon their decks and he diedF2
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XIVL
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And they stared at the dead that had been so valiant and trueH2
And had holden the power and glory of Spain so cheapI2
That he dared her with one little ship and his English fewH2
Was he devil or man He was devil for aught they knewH2
But they sank his body with honour down into the deepI2
And they manned the Revenge with a swarthier alien crewH2
And away she sailed with her loss and longed for her ownJ2
When a wind from the lands they had ruined awoke from sleepI2
And the water began to heave and the weather to moanJ2
And or ever that evening ended a great gale blewH2
And a wave like the wave that is raised by an earthquake grewH2
Till it smote on their hulls and their sails and their masts and their flagsU
And the whole sea plunged and fell on the shot shattered navy of SpainI
And the little Revenge herself went down by the island cragsU
To be lost evermore in the mainI

Alfred Lord Tennyson



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