The Non-combatant Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMJNOP

Among a race high handed strong of heartA
Sea rovers conquerors builders in the wasteB
He had his birth a nature too completeC
Eager and doubtful no man's soldier swornD
And no man's chosen captain born to failE
A name without an echo yet he tooF
Within the cloister of his narrow daysG
Fulfilled the ancestral rites and kept aliveH
The eternal fire it may be not in vainI
For out of those who dropped a downward glanceJ
Upon the weakling huddled at his prayersK
Perchance some looked beyond him and then firstL
Beheld the glory and what shrine it filledM
And to what Spirit sacred or perchanceJ
Some heard him chanting though but to himselfN
The old heroic names and went their wayO
And hummed his music on the march to deathP

Henry Newbolt



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Dr David Weekes: Newbolt has some haunting phrases like "a name without an echo'" and "within the cloister of his narrow days". Of course there is a double meaning in what others saw in "the weaklng huddled at his prayers" and "first beheld the glory." It has both a Christian and a patriotic implication. Seeing someone at their prayers in Newbolt's day might inspire reflection on the relevance of Christianity, just as seeing the weakling might provoke going out to fight, "Praising the Lord" yet "passing the amunition." For a young man who did just that, see my book, "John Buchan's Kid Brother" on Amazon. Incidentally, Buchan was a friend of Newbolt.
 

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