The Field Of Waterloo Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCDECFFGHHGAAIJJIKK LMNNL A OOOHPQHRRHIISTTS A AAFFKKUVWXXWYIHGGHMM MGZZGA2A2 A HB2AIIIIAGGC2D2D2D2C 2 A E2E2F2G2G2H2I2I2I2IK KKI A J2J2J2K2L2L2L2M2N2N2 O2O2GZZG A P2P2Q2R2R2R2Q2AAAQ2K KKKQ2KQ2 A AAAS2T2T2S2K2K2U2AAU 2MMMKV2V2KKKK A TTD2KKD2W2W2U2U2IIX2 X2Y2Y2Y2Y2IZ2A3Y A D2D2K2AAAK2R2R2KKB3B 3B3U2AAU2 A S2S2C3C3KD3D3KKKKKKE 3E3D2D2D2 A LF3Z2Z2NMKKIYKKKAN2N 2KKAG3G3G3KAAKAANNKK Y2Y2KKF3L A AKA3AAAL2D2D2H3H3I3I 3AKKAJ3J3Q2J3J3J3Q2T TKK3L3KL3L3L3L3L3L3L 3L3 A L3L3L3L3L3D2D2L3J3J3 VVL3KKL3KKL3AAL3 A KKL3D2D2L3J3J3AAAAAA L3K2M2K2L3 A L3L3KKK2L3L3L3KM2L3L 3L3AAL3L3Q2Q2D2D2C3L 3L3C3 A FFL3L3L3J3J3AAL3AAL3 J3J3L3L3L3L3L3RL3L3R YIL3L3L3L3L3 J3 L3L3Q2M3M3Q2J3J3HL3L 3B2 A L3L3J3J3D2D2KKL3L3J3 J3KK A L3L3KKN3N3L3L3I2I2IY KKL3L3KKL3L3J3J3AAL3 L3AA A AAAAAKKL3L3O3P3L3L3J 3J3J3J3L3L3Q2Q2 A J3J3TTD2D2J3J3J3J3I2 I2K2J3J3J3K2 J3 J3J3IIE3J3J3J3J3J3N3 N3D2D2J3J3AE3E3J3A K2 J3Q3J3Q3Q3J3Q3J3J3 R3K2R3K2K2J3K2J3J3 J3J3J3J3J3J3J3J3J3 J3D2J3D2D2J3D2J3J3 L3J3KJ3J3J3J3J3J3 S3J3S3J3J3Q2J3Q2K2| I | A |
| - | |
| Fair Brussels thou art far behind | B |
| Though lingering on the morning wind | B |
| We yet may hear the hour | C |
| Pealed over orchard and canal | D |
| With voice prolonged and measured fall | E |
| From proud St Michael's tower | C |
| Thy wood dark Soignies holds us now | F |
| Where the tall beeches' glossy bough | F |
| For many a league around | G |
| With birch and darksome oak between | H |
| Spreads deep and far a pathless screen | H |
| Of tangled forest ground | G |
| Stems planted close by stems defy | A |
| The adventurous foot the curious eye | A |
| For access seeks in vain | I |
| And the brown tapestry of leaves | J |
| Strewed on the blighted ground receives | J |
| Nor sun nor air nor rain | I |
| No opening glade dawns on our way | K |
| No streamlet glancing to the ray | K |
| Our woodland path has crossed | L |
| And the straight causeway which we tread | M |
| Prolongs a line of dull arcade | N |
| Unvarying through the unvaried shade | N |
| Until in distance lost | L |
| - | |
| II | A |
| - | |
| A brighter livelier scene succeeds | O |
| In groups the scattering wood recedes | O |
| Hedge rows and huts and sunny meads | O |
| And corn fields glance between | H |
| The peasant at his labour blithe | P |
| Plies the hooked staff and shortened scythe | Q |
| But when these ears were green | H |
| Placed close within destruction's scope | R |
| Full little was that rustic's hope | R |
| Their ripening to have seen | H |
| And lo a hamlet and its fane | I |
| Let not the gazer with disdain | I |
| Their architecture view | S |
| For yonder rude ungraceful shrine | T |
| And disproportioned spire are thine | T |
| Immortal Waterloo | S |
| - | |
| III | A |
| - | |
| Fear not the heat though full and high | A |
| The sun has scorched the autumn sky | A |
| And scarce a forest straggler now | F |
| To shade us spreads a greenwood bough | F |
| These fields have seen a hotter day | K |
| Than e'er was fired by sunny ray | K |
| Yet one mile on yon shattered hedge | U |
| Crests the soft hill whose long smooth ridge | V |
| Looks on the field below | W |
| And sinks so gently on the dale | X |
| That not the folds of Beauty's veil | X |
| In easier curves can flow | W |
| Brief space from thence the ground again | Y |
| Ascending slowly from the plain | I |
| Forms an opposing screen | H |
| Which with its crest of upland ground | G |
| Shuts the horizon all around | G |
| The softened vale between | H |
| Slopes smooth and fair for courser's tread | M |
| Not the most timid maid need dread | M |
| To give her snow white palfrey head | M |
| On that wide stubble ground | G |
| Nor wood nor tree nor bush are there | Z |
| Her course to intercept or scare | Z |
| Nor fosse nor fence are found | G |
| Save where from out her shattered bowers | A2 |
| Rise Hougomont's dismantled towers | A2 |
| - | |
| IV | A |
| - | |
| Now see'st thou aught in this lone scene | H |
| Can tell of that which late hath been | B2 |
| A stranger might reply | A |
| The bare extent of stubble plain | I |
| Seems lately lightened of its grain | I |
| And yonder sable tracks remain | I |
| Marks of the peasant's ponderous wain | I |
| When harvest home was nigh | A |
| On these broad spots of trampled ground | G |
| Perchance the rustics danced such round | G |
| As Teniers loved to draw | C2 |
| And where the earth seems scorched by flame | D2 |
| To dress the homely feast they came | D2 |
| And toiled the kerchiefed village dame | D2 |
| Around her fire of straw | C2 |
| - | |
| V | A |
| - | |
| So deem'st thou so each mortal deems | E2 |
| Of that which is from that which seems | E2 |
| But other harvest here | F2 |
| Than that which peasant's scythe demands | G2 |
| Was gathered in by sterner hands | G2 |
| With bayonet blade and spear | H2 |
| No vulgar crop was theirs to reap | I2 |
| No stinted harvest thin and cheap | I2 |
| Heroes before each fatal sweep | I2 |
| Fell thick as ripened grain | I |
| And ere the darkening of the day | K |
| Piled high as autumn shocks there lay | K |
| The ghastly harvest of the fray | K |
| The corpses of the slain | I |
| - | |
| VI | A |
| - | |
| Ay look again that line so black | J2 |
| And trampled marks the bivouac | J2 |
| Yon deep graved ruts the artillery's track | J2 |
| So often lost and won | K2 |
| And close beside the hardened mud | L2 |
| Still shows where fetlock deep in blood | L2 |
| The fierce dragoon through battle's flood | L2 |
| Dashed the hot war horse on | M2 |
| These spots of excavation tell | N2 |
| The ravage of the bursting shell | N2 |
| And feel'st thou not the tainted steam | O2 |
| That reeks against the sultry beam | O2 |
| From yonder trenched mound | G |
| The pestilential fumes declare | Z |
| That Carnage has replenished there | Z |
| Her garner house profound | G |
| - | |
| VII | A |
| - | |
| Far other harvest home and feast | P2 |
| Than claims the boor from scythe released | P2 |
| On these scorched fields were known | Q2 |
| Death hovered o'er the maddening rout | R2 |
| And in the thrilling battle shout | R2 |
| Sent for the bloody banquet out | R2 |
| A summons of his own | Q2 |
| Through rolling smoke the Demon's eye | A |
| Could well each destined guest espy | A |
| Well could his ear in ecstasy | A |
| Distinguish every tone | Q2 |
| That filled the chorus of the fray | K |
| From cannon roar and trumpet bray | K |
| From charging squadrons' wild hurra | K |
| From the wild clang that marked their way | K |
| Down to the dying groan | Q2 |
| And the last sob of life's decay | K |
| When breath was all but flown | Q2 |
| - | |
| VIII | A |
| - | |
| Feast on stern foe of mortal life | A |
| Feast on but think not that a strife | A |
| With such promiscuous carnage rife | A |
| Protracted space may last | S2 |
| The deadly tug of war at length | T2 |
| Must limits find in human strength | T2 |
| And cease when these are past | S2 |
| Vain hope that morn's o'erclouded sun | K2 |
| Heard the wild shout of fight begun | K2 |
| Ere he attained his height | U2 |
| And through the war smoke volumed high | A |
| Still peals that unremitted cry | A |
| Though now he stoops to night | U2 |
| For ten long hours of doubt and dread | M |
| Fresh succours from the extended head | M |
| Of either hill the contest fed | M |
| Still down the slope they drew | K |
| The charge of columns paused not | V2 |
| Nor ceased the storm of shell and shot | V2 |
| For all that war could do | K |
| Of skill and force was proved that day | K |
| And turned not yet the doubtful fray | K |
| On bloody Waterloo | K |
| - | |
| IX | A |
| - | |
| Pale Brussels then what thoughts were thine | T |
| When ceaseless from the distant line | T |
| Continued thunders came | D2 |
| Each burgher held his breath to hear | K |
| These forerunners of havoc near | K |
| Of rapine and of flame | D2 |
| What ghastly sights were thine to meet | W2 |
| When rolling through thy stately street | W2 |
| The wounded showed their mangled plight | U2 |
| In token of the unfinished fight | U2 |
| And from each anguish laden wain | I |
| The blood drops laid thy dust like rain | I |
| How often in the distant drum | X2 |
| Heard'st thou the fell Invader come | X2 |
| While Ruin shouting to his band | Y2 |
| Shook high her torch and gory brand | Y2 |
| Cheer thee fair City From yon stand | Y2 |
| Impatient still his outstretched hand | Y2 |
| Points to his prey in vain | I |
| While maddening in his eager mood | Z2 |
| And all unwont to be withstood | A3 |
| He fires the fight again | Y |
| - | |
| X | A |
| - | |
| On On was still his stern exclaim | D2 |
| Confront the battery's jaws of flame | D2 |
| Rush on the levelled gun | K2 |
| My steel clad cuirassiers advance | A |
| Each Hulan forward with his lance | A |
| My Guard my Chosen charge for France | A |
| France and Napoleon | K2 |
| Loud answered their acclaiming shout | R2 |
| Greeting the mandate which sent out | R2 |
| Their bravest and their best to dare | K |
| The fate their leader shunned to share | K |
| But HE his country's sword and shield | B3 |
| Still in the battle front revealed | B3 |
| Where danger fiercest swept the field | B3 |
| Came like a beam of light | U2 |
| In action prompt in sentence brief | A |
| Soldiers stand firm exclaimed the Chief | A |
| England shall tell the fight | U2 |
| - | |
| XI | A |
| - | |
| On came the whirlwind like the last | S2 |
| But fiercest sweep of tempest blast | S2 |
| On came the whirlwind steel gleams broke | C3 |
| Like lightning through the rolling smoke | C3 |
| The war was waked anew | K |
| Three hundred cannon mouths roared loud | D3 |
| And from their throats with flash and cloud | D3 |
| Their showers of iron threw | K |
| Beneath their fire in full career | K |
| Rushed on the ponderous cuirassier | K |
| The lancer couched his ruthless spear | K |
| And hurrying as to havoc near | K |
| The cohorts' eagles flew | K |
| In one dark torrent broad and strong | E3 |
| The advancing onset rolled along | E3 |
| Forth harbingered by fierce acclaim | D2 |
| That from the shroud of smoke and flame | D2 |
| Pealed wildly the imperial name | D2 |
| - | |
| XII | A |
| - | |
| But on the British heart were lost | L |
| The terrors of the charging host | F3 |
| For not an eye the storm that viewed | Z2 |
| Changed its proud glance of fortitude | Z2 |
| Nor was one forward footstep stayed | N |
| As dropped the dying and the dead | M |
| Fast as their ranks the thunders tear | K |
| Fast they renewed each serried square | K |
| And on the wounded and the slain | I |
| Closed their diminished files again | Y |
| Till from their line scarce spears' lengths three | K |
| Emerging from the smoke they see | K |
| Helmet and plume and panoply | K |
| Then waked their fire at once | A |
| Each musketeer's revolving knell | N2 |
| As fast as regularly fell | N2 |
| As when they practise to display | K |
| Their discipline on festal day | K |
| Then down went helm and lance | A |
| Down were the eagle banners sent | G3 |
| Down reeling steeds and riders went | G3 |
| Corslets were pierced and pennons rent | G3 |
| And to augment the fray | K |
| Wheeled full against their staggering flanks | A |
| The English horsemen's foaming ranks | A |
| Forced their resistless way | K |
| Then to the musket knell succeeds | A |
| The clash of swords the neigh of steeds | A |
| As plies the smith his clanging trade | N |
| Against the cuirass rang the blade | N |
| And while amid their close array | K |
| The well served cannon rent their way | K |
| And while amid their scattered band | Y2 |
| Raged the fierce rider's bloody brand | Y2 |
| Recoiled in common rout and fear | K |
| Lancer and guard and cuirassier | K |
| Horsemen and foot a mingled host | F3 |
| Their leaders fall'n their standards lost | L |
| - | |
| XIII | A |
| - | |
| Then Wellington thy piercing eye | A |
| This crisis caught of destiny | K |
| The British host had stood | A3 |
| That morn 'gainst charge of sword and lance | A |
| As their own ocean rocks hold stance | A |
| But when thy voice had said Advance | A |
| They were their ocean's flood | L2 |
| O Thou whose inauspicious aim | D2 |
| Hath wrought thy host this hour of shame | D2 |
| Think'st thou thy broken bands will bide | H3 |
| The terrors of yon rushing tide | H3 |
| Or will thy chosen brook to feel | I3 |
| The British shock of levelled steel | I3 |
| Or dost thou turn thine eye | A |
| Where coming squadrons gleam afar | K |
| And fresher thunders wake the war | K |
| And other standards fly | A |
| Think not that in yon columns file | J3 |
| Thy conquering troops from distant Dyle | J3 |
| Is Blucher yet unknown | Q2 |
| Or dwells not in thy memory still | J3 |
| Heard frequent in thine hour of ill | J3 |
| What notes of hate and vengeance thrill | J3 |
| In Prussia's trumpet tone | Q2 |
| What yet remains shall it be thine | T |
| To head the relics of thy line | T |
| In one dread effort more | K |
| The Roman lore thy leisure loved | K3 |
| And than canst tell what fortune proved | L3 |
| That Chieftain who of yore | K |
| Ambition's dizzy paths essayed | L3 |
| And with the gladiators' aid | L3 |
| For empire enterprised | L3 |
| He stood the cast his rashness played | L3 |
| Left not the victims he had made | L3 |
| Dug his red grave with his own blade | L3 |
| And on the field he lost was laid | L3 |
| Abhorred but not despised | L3 |
| - | |
| XIV | A |
| - | |
| But if revolves thy fainter thought | L3 |
| On safety howsoever bought | L3 |
| Then turn thy fearful rein and ride | L3 |
| Though twice ten thousand men have died | L3 |
| On this eventful day | L3 |
| To gild the military fame | D2 |
| Which thou for life in traffic tame | D2 |
| Wilt barter thus away | L3 |
| Shall future ages tell this tale | J3 |
| Of inconsistence faint and frail | J3 |
| And art thou He of Lodi's bridge | V |
| Marengo's field and Wagram's ridge | V |
| Or is thy soul like mountain tide | L3 |
| That swelled by winter storm and shower | K |
| Rolls down in turbulence of power | K |
| A torrent fierce and wide | L3 |
| Reft of these aids a rill obscure | K |
| Shrinking unnoticed mean and poor | K |
| Whose channel shows displayed | L3 |
| The wrecks of its impetuous course | A |
| But not one symptom of the force | A |
| By which these wrecks were made | L3 |
| - | |
| XV | A |
| - | |
| Spur on thy way since now thine ear | K |
| Has brooked thy veterans' wish to hear | K |
| Who as thy flight they eyed | L3 |
| Exclaimed while tears of anguish came | D2 |
| Wrung forth by pride and rage and shame | D2 |
| O that he had but died | L3 |
| But yet to sum this hour of ill | J3 |
| Look ere thou leav'st the fatal hill | J3 |
| Back on yon broken ranks | A |
| Upon whose wild confusion gleams | A |
| The moon as on the troubled streams | A |
| When rivers break their banks | A |
| And to the ruined peasant's eye | A |
| Objects half seen roll swiftly by | A |
| Down the dread current hurled | L3 |
| So mingle banner wain and gun | K2 |
| Where the tumultuous flight rolls on | M2 |
| Of warriors who when morn begun | K2 |
| Defied a banded world | L3 |
| - | |
| XVI | A |
| - | |
| List frequent to the hurrying rout | L3 |
| The stern pursuers' vengeful shout | L3 |
| Tells that upon their broken rear | K |
| Rages the Prussian's bloody spear | K |
| So fell a shriek was none | K2 |
| When Beresina's icy flood | L3 |
| Reddened and thawed with flame and blood | L3 |
| And pressing on thy desperate way | L3 |
| Raised oft and long their wild hurra | K |
| The children of the Don | M2 |
| Thine ear no yell of horror cleft | L3 |
| So ominous when all bereft | L3 |
| Of aid the valiant Polack left | L3 |
| Ay left by thee found soldiers grave | A |
| In Leipsic's corpse encumbered wave | A |
| Fate in those various perils past | L3 |
| Reserved thee still some future cast | L3 |
| On the dread die thou now hast thrown | Q2 |
| Hangs not a single field alone | Q2 |
| Nor one campaign thy martial fame | D2 |
| Thy empire dynasty and name | D2 |
| Have felt the final stroke | C3 |
| And now o'er thy devoted head | L3 |
| The last stern vial's wrath is shed | L3 |
| The last dread seal is broke | C3 |
| - | |
| XVII | A |
| - | |
| Since live thou wilt refuse not now | F |
| Before these demagogues to bow | F |
| Late objects of thy scorn and hate | L3 |
| Who shall thy once imperial fate | L3 |
| Make wordy theme of vain debate | L3 |
| Or shall we say thou stoop'st less low | J3 |
| In seeking refuge from the foe | J3 |
| Against whose heart in prosperous life | A |
| Thine hand hath ever held the knife | A |
| Such homage hath been paid | L3 |
| By Roman and by Grecian voice | A |
| And there were honour in the choice | A |
| If it were freely made | L3 |
| Then safely come in one so low | J3 |
| So lost we cannot own a foe | J3 |
| Though dear experience bid us end | L3 |
| In thee we ne'er can hail a friend | L3 |
| Come howsoe'er but do not hide | L3 |
| Close in thy heart that germ of pride | L3 |
| Erewhile by gifted bard espied | L3 |
| That yet imperial hope | R |
| Think not that for a fresh rebound | L3 |
| To raise ambition from the ground | L3 |
| We yield thee means or scope | R |
| In safety come but ne'er again | Y |
| Hold type of independent reign | I |
| No islet calls thee lord | L3 |
| We leave thee no confederate band | L3 |
| No symbol of thy lost command | L3 |
| To be a dagger in the hand | L3 |
| From which we wrenched the sword | L3 |
| - | |
| XVIII | J3 |
| - | |
| Yet even in yon sequestered spot | L3 |
| May worthier conquest be thy lot | L3 |
| Than yet thy life has known | Q2 |
| Conquest unbought by blood or harm | M3 |
| That needs nor foreign aid nor arm | M3 |
| A triumph all thine own | Q2 |
| Such waits thee when thou shalt control | J3 |
| Those passions wild that stubborn soul | J3 |
| That marred thy prosperous scene | H |
| Hear this from no unmoved heart | L3 |
| Which sighs comparing what thou art | L3 |
| With what thou might'st have been | B2 |
| - | |
| XIX | A |
| - | |
| Thou too whose deeds of fame renewed | L3 |
| Bankrupt a nation's gratitude | L3 |
| To thine own noble heart must owe | J3 |
| More than the meed she can bestow | J3 |
| For not a people's just acclaim | D2 |
| Not the full hail of Europe's fame | D2 |
| Thy Prince's smiles the State's decree | K |
| The ducal rank the gartered knee | K |
| Not these such pure delight afford | L3 |
| As that when hanging up thy sword | L3 |
| Well may'st thou think This honest steel | J3 |
| Was ever drawn for public weal | J3 |
| And such was rightful Heaven's decree | K |
| Ne'er sheathed unless with victory | K |
| - | |
| XX | A |
| - | |
| Look forth once more with softened heart | L3 |
| Ere from the field of fame we part | L3 |
| Triumph and Sorrow border near | K |
| And joy oft melts into a tear | K |
| Alas what links of love that morn | N3 |
| Has War's rude hand asunder torn | N3 |
| For ne'er was field so sternly fought | L3 |
| And ne'er was conquest dearer bought | L3 |
| Here piled in common slaughter sleep | I2 |
| Those whom affection long shall weep | I2 |
| Here rests the sire that ne'er shall strain | I |
| His orphans to his heart again | Y |
| The son whom on his native shore | K |
| The parent's voice shall bless no more | K |
| The bridegroom who has hardly pressed | L3 |
| His blushing consort to his breast | L3 |
| The husband whom through many a year | K |
| Long love and mutual faith endear | K |
| Thou canst not name one tender tie | L3 |
| But here dissolved its relics lie | L3 |
| Oh when thou see'st some mourner's veil | J3 |
| Shroud her thin form and visage pale | J3 |
| Or mark'st the Matron's bursting tears | A |
| Stream when the stricken drum she hears | A |
| Or see'st how manlier grief suppressed | L3 |
| Is labouring in a father's breast | L3 |
| With no inquiry vain pursue | A |
| The cause but think on Waterloo | A |
| - | |
| XXI | A |
| - | |
| Period of honour as of woes | A |
| What bright careers 'twas thine to close | A |
| Marked on thy roll of blood what names | A |
| To Britain's memory and to Fame's | A |
| Laid there their last immortal claims | A |
| Thou saw'st in seas of gore expire | K |
| Redoubted Picton's soul of fire | K |
| Saw'st in the mingled carnage lie | L3 |
| All that of Ponsonby could die | L3 |
| DE Lancey change Love's bridal wreath | O3 |
| For laurels from the hand of Death | P3 |
| Saw'st gallant Miller's failing eye | L3 |
| Still bent where Albion's banners fly | L3 |
| And Cameron in the shock of steel | J3 |
| Die like the offspring of Lochiel | J3 |
| And generous Gordon 'mid the strife | J3 |
| Fall while he watched his leader's life | J3 |
| Ah though her guardian angel's shield | L3 |
| Fenced Britain's hero through the field | L3 |
| Fate not the less her power made known | Q2 |
| Through his friends' hearts to pierce his own | Q2 |
| - | |
| XXII | A |
| - | |
| Forgive brave Dead the imperfect lay | J3 |
| Who may your names your numbers say | J3 |
| What high strung harp what lofty line | T |
| To each the dear earned praise assign | T |
| From high born chiefs of martial fame | D2 |
| To the poor soldier's lowlier name | D2 |
| Lightly ye rose that dawning day | J3 |
| From your cold couch of swamp and clay | J3 |
| To fill before the sun was low | J3 |
| The bed that morning cannot know | J3 |
| Oft may the tear the green sod steep | I2 |
| And sacred be the heroes' sleep | I2 |
| Till time shall cease to run | K2 |
| And ne'er beside their noble grave | J3 |
| May Briton pass and fail to crave | J3 |
| A blessing on the fallen brave | J3 |
| Who fought with Wellington | K2 |
| - | |
| XXIII | J3 |
| - | |
| Farewell sad Field whose blighted face | J3 |
| Wears desolation's withering trace | J3 |
| Long shall my memory retain | I |
| Thy shattered huts and trampled grain | I |
| With every mark of martial wrong | E3 |
| That scathe thy towers fair Hougomont | J3 |
| Yet though thy garden's green arcade | J3 |
| The marksman's fatal post was made | J3 |
| Though on thy shattered beeches fell | J3 |
| The blended rage of shot and shell | J3 |
| Though from thy blackened portals torn | N3 |
| Their fall thy blighted fruit trees mourn | N3 |
| Has not such havoc bought a name | D2 |
| Immortal in the rolls of fame | D2 |
| Yes Agincourt may be forgot | J3 |
| And Cressy be an unknown spot | J3 |
| And Blenheim's name be new | A |
| But still in story and in song | E3 |
| For many an age remembered long | E3 |
| Shall live the towers of Hougomont | J3 |
| And Field of Waterloo | A |
| - | |
| Conclusion | K2 |
| - | |
| Stern tide of human Time that know'st not rest | J3 |
| But sweeping from the cradle to the tomb | Q3 |
| Bear'st ever downward on thy dusky breast | J3 |
| Successive generations to their doom | Q3 |
| While thy capacious stream has equal room | Q3 |
| For the gay bark where Pleasure's steamers sport | J3 |
| And for the prison ship of guilt and gloom | Q3 |
| The fisher skiff and barge that bears a court | J3 |
| Still wafting onward all to one dark silent port | J3 |
| - | |
| Stern tide of Time through what mysterious change | R3 |
| Of hope and fear have our frail barks been driven | K2 |
| For ne'er before vicissitude so strange | R3 |
| Was to one race of Adam's offspring given | K2 |
| And sure such varied change of sea and heaven | K2 |
| Such unexpected bursts of joy and woe | J3 |
| Such fearful strife as that where we have striven | K2 |
| Succeeding ages ne'er again shall know | J3 |
| Until the awful term when Thou shalt cease to flow | J3 |
| - | |
| Well hast thou stood my Country the brave fight | J3 |
| Hast well maintained through good report and ill | J3 |
| In thy just cause and in thy native might | J3 |
| And in Heaven's grace and justice constant still | J3 |
| Whether the banded prowess strength and skill | J3 |
| Of half the world against thee stood arrayed | J3 |
| Or when with better views and freer will | J3 |
| Beside thee Europe's noblest drew the blade | J3 |
| Each emulous in arms the Ocean Queen to aid | J3 |
| - | |
| Well art thou now repaid though slowly rose | J3 |
| And struggled long with mists thy blaze of fame | D2 |
| While like the dawn that in the orient glows | J3 |
| On the broad wave its earlier lustre came | D2 |
| Then eastern Egypt saw the growing flame | D2 |
| And Maida's myrtles gleamed beneath its ray | J3 |
| Where first the soldier stung with generous shame | D2 |
| Rivalled the heroes of the watery way | J3 |
| And washed in foemen's gore unjust reproach away | J3 |
| - | |
| Now Island Empress wave thy crest on high | L3 |
| And bid the banner of thy Patron flow | J3 |
| Gallant Saint George the flower of Chivalry | K |
| For thou halt faced like him a dragon foe | J3 |
| And rescued innocence from overthrow | J3 |
| And trampled down like him tyrannic might | J3 |
| And to the gazing world may'st proudly show | J3 |
| The chosen emblem of thy sainted Knight | J3 |
| Who quelled devouring pride and vindicated right | J3 |
| - | |
| Yet 'mid the confidence of just renown | S3 |
| Renown dear bought but dearest thus acquired | J3 |
| Write Britain write the moral lesson down | S3 |
| 'Tis not alone the heart with valour fired | J3 |
| The discipline so dreaded and admired | J3 |
| In many a field of bloody conquest known | Q2 |
| Such may by fame be lured by gold be hired | J3 |
| 'Tis constancy in the good cause alone | Q2 |
| Best justifies the meed thy valiant sons have won | K2 |
Walter Scott (sir)
(1)
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