Edinburgh After Flodden Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDCEFGFHIJKLAMA A ENG OPQPRSTUQVGV A FWBWMXV QYQYVVMVZ QA2 Z VB2VB2VWC2WVD2VE2MA2 F2A2VG2VG2H2C2Z V VI2J2I2VVVVK2D2SD2QF LF Z VVH2VVE2L2D2VM2VVM2V VMVYN2O2N2P2VQ2VR2S2 Z Z VVQVQVVVVT2MT2VZVZVN 2VN2QZA2ZVFV Z MN2MN2U2MMMRMVKBKVMM QV2MV2 R QZZZMZBZVVMVFW2BW2 R RVX2VVWFWRY2MY2VMRMV VRVVZ2V V FA3K2A3VVVVRB2VB2BB3 VC3V2Y2VY2D3VY2VQZMZ VWVWQVRVQY2F V| I | A |
| - | |
| News of battle news of battle | B |
| Hark 'tis ringing down the street | C |
| And the archways and the pavement | D |
| Bear the clang of hurrying feet | C |
| News of battle Who hath brought it | E |
| News of triumph Who should bring | F |
| Tidings from our noble army | G |
| Greetings from our gallant King | F |
| All last night we watched the beacons | H |
| Blazing on the hills afar | I |
| Each one bearing as it kindled | J |
| Message of the opened war | K |
| All night long the northern streamers | L |
| Shot across the trembling sky | A |
| Fearful lights that never beckon | M |
| Save when kings or heroes die | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| II | A |
| - | |
| News of battle Who hath brought it | E |
| All are thronging to the gate | N |
| 'Warder warder open quickly | G |
| Man is this a time to wait ' | - |
| And the heavy gates are opened | O |
| Then a murmur long and loud | P |
| And a cry of fear and wonder | Q |
| Bursts from out the bending crowd | P |
| For they see in battered harness | R |
| Only one hard stricken man | S |
| And his weary steed is wounded | T |
| And his cheek is pale and wan | U |
| Spearless hangs a bloody banner | Q |
| In his weak and drooping hand | V |
| God can that be Randolph Murray | G |
| Captain of the city band | V |
| - | |
| - | |
| III | A |
| - | |
| Round him crush the people crying | F |
| 'Tell us all oh tell us true | W |
| Where are they who went to battle | B |
| Randolph Murray sworn to you | W |
| Where are they our brothers children | M |
| Have they met the English foe | X |
| Why art thou alone unfollowed | V |
| Is it weal or is it woe ' | - |
| Like a corpse the grisly warrior | Q |
| Looks from out his helm of steel | Y |
| But no word he speaks in answer | Q |
| Only with his arm d heel | Y |
| Chides his weary steed and onward | V |
| Up the city streets they ride | V |
| Fathers sisters mothers children | M |
| Shrieking praying by his side | V |
| 'By the God that made thee Randolph | Z |
| Tell us what mischance hath come ' | - |
| Then he lifts his riven banner | Q |
| And the asker's voice is dumb | A2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| IV | Z |
| - | |
| The elders of the city | V |
| Have met within their hall | B2 |
| The men whom good King James had charged | V |
| To watch the tower and wall | B2 |
| 'Your hands are weak with age ' he said | V |
| 'Your hearts are stout and true | W |
| So bide ye in the Maiden Town | C2 |
| While others fight for you | W |
| My trumpet from the Border side | V |
| Shall send a blast so clear | D2 |
| That all who wait within the gate | V |
| That stirring sound may hear | E2 |
| Or if it be the will of heaven | M |
| That back I never come | A2 |
| And if instead of Scottish shouts | F2 |
| Ye hear the English drum | A2 |
| Then let the warning bells ring out | V |
| Then gird you to the fray | G2 |
| Then man the walls like burghers stout | V |
| And fight while fight you may | G2 |
| 'T were better that in fiery flame | H2 |
| The roofs should thunder down | C2 |
| Than that the foot of foreign foe | Z |
| Should trample in the town ' | - |
| - | |
| - | |
| V | V |
| - | |
| Then in came Randolph Murray | V |
| His step was slow and weak | I2 |
| And as he doffed his dinted helm | J2 |
| The tears ran down his cheek | I2 |
| They fell upon his corslet | V |
| And on his mail d hand | V |
| As he gazed around him wistfully | V |
| Leaning sorely on his brand | V |
| And none who then beheld him | K2 |
| But straight were smote with fear | D2 |
| For a bolder and a sterner man | S |
| Had never couched a spear | D2 |
| They knew so sad a messenger | Q |
| Some ghastly news must bring | F |
| And all of them were fathers | L |
| And their sons were with the King | F |
| - | |
| - | |
| VI | Z |
| - | |
| And up then rose the Provost | V |
| A brave old man was he | V |
| Of ancient name and knightly fame | H2 |
| And chivalrous degree | V |
| He ruled our city like a Lord | V |
| Who brooked no equal here | E2 |
| And ever for the townsmen's rights | L2 |
| Stood up 'gainst prince and peer | D2 |
| And he had seen the Scottish host | V |
| March from the Borough muir | M2 |
| With music storm and clamorous shout | V |
| And all the din that thunders out | V |
| When youth's of victory sure | M2 |
| But yet a dearer thought had he | V |
| For with a father's pride | V |
| He saw his last remaining son | M |
| Go forth by Randolph's side | V |
| With casque on head and spur on heel | Y |
| All keen to do and dare | N2 |
| And proudly did that gallant boy | O2 |
| Dunedin's banner bear | N2 |
| Oh woeful now was the old man's look | P2 |
| And he spake right heavily | V |
| 'Now Randolph tell thy tidings | Q2 |
| However sharp they be | V |
| Woe is written on thy visage | R2 |
| Death is looking from thy face | S2 |
| Speak though it be of overthrow | Z |
| It cannot be disgrace ' | - |
| - | |
| - | |
| VII | Z |
| - | |
| Right bitter was the agony | V |
| That wrung the soldier proud | V |
| Thrice did he strive to answer | Q |
| And thrice he groaned aloud | V |
| Then he gave the riven banner | Q |
| To the old man's shaking hand | V |
| Saying 'That is all I bring ye | V |
| From the bravest of the land | V |
| Ay ye may look upon it | V |
| It was guarded well and long | T2 |
| By your brothers and your children | M |
| By the valiant and the strong | T2 |
| One by one they fell around it | V |
| As the archers laid them low | Z |
| Grimly dying still unconquered | V |
| With their faces to the foe | Z |
| Ay ye well may look upon it | V |
| There is more than honour there | N2 |
| Else be sure I had not brought it | V |
| From the field of dark despair | N2 |
| Never yet was royal banner | Q |
| Steeped in such a costly dye | Z |
| It hath lain upon a bosom | A2 |
| Where no other shroud shall lie | Z |
| Sirs I charge you keep it holy | V |
| Keep it as a sacred thing | F |
| For the stain you see upon it | V |
| Was the life blood of your King ' | - |
| - | |
| - | |
| VIII | Z |
| - | |
| Woe woe and lamentation | M |
| What a piteous cry was there | N2 |
| Widows maidens mothers children | M |
| Shrieking sobbing in despair | N2 |
| Through the streets the death word rushes | U2 |
| Spreading terror sweeping on | M |
| 'Jesu Christ our King has fallen | M |
| O great God King James is gone | M |
| Holy Mother Mary shield us | R |
| Thou who erst did lose thy Son | M |
| O the blackest day for Scotland | V |
| That she ever knew before | K |
| O our King the good the noble | B |
| Shall we see him never more | K |
| Woe to us and woe to Scotland | V |
| O our sons our sons and men | M |
| Surely some have 'scaped the Southron | M |
| Surely some will come again ' | - |
| Till the oak that fell last winter | Q |
| Shall uprear its shattered stem | V2 |
| Wives and mothers of Dunedin | M |
| Ye may look in vain for them | V2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| IX | R |
| - | |
| But within the Council Chamber | Q |
| All was silent as the grave | Z |
| Whilst the tempest of their sorrow | Z |
| Shook the bosoms of the brave | Z |
| Well indeed might they be shaken | M |
| With the weight of such a blow | Z |
| He was gone their prince their idol | B |
| Whom they loved and worshipped so | Z |
| Like a knell of death and judgment | V |
| Rung from heaven by angel hand | V |
| Fell the words of desolation | M |
| On the elders of the land | V |
| Hoary heads were bowed and trembling | F |
| Withered hands were clasped and wrung | W2 |
| God had left the old and feeble | B |
| He had ta'en away the young | W2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| X | R |
| - | |
| Then the Provost he uprose | R |
| And his lip was ashen white | V |
| But a flush was on his brow | X2 |
| And his eye was full of light | V |
| 'Thou hast spoken Randolph Murray | V |
| Like a soldier stout and true | W |
| Thou hast done a deed of daring | F |
| Had been perilled but by few | W |
| For thou hast not shamed to face us | R |
| Nor to speak thy ghastly tale | Y2 |
| Standing thou a knight and captain | M |
| Here alive within thy mail | Y2 |
| Now as my God shall judge me | V |
| I hold it braver done | M |
| Than hadst thou tarried in thy place | R |
| And died above my son | M |
| Thou needst not tell it he is dead | V |
| God help us all this day | V |
| But speak how fought the citizens | R |
| Within the furious fray | V |
| For by the might of Mary | V |
| 'T were something still to tell | Z2 |
| That no Scottish foot went backward | V |
| When the Royal Lion fell ' | - |
| - | |
| - | |
| XI | V |
| - | |
| 'No one failed him He is keeping | F |
| Royal state and semblance still | A3 |
| Knight and noble lie around him | K2 |
| Cold on Flodden's fatal hill | A3 |
| Of the brave and gallant hearted | V |
| Whom ye sent with prayers away | V |
| Not a single man departed | V |
| From his monarch yesterday | V |
| Had you seen them O my masters | R |
| When the night began to fall | B2 |
| And the English spearmen gathered | V |
| Round a grim and ghastly wall | B2 |
| As the wolves in winter circle | B |
| Round the leaguer on the heath | B3 |
| So the greedy foe glared upward | V |
| Panting still for blood and death | C3 |
| But a rampart rose before them | V2 |
| Which the boldest dared not scale | Y2 |
| Every stone a Scottish body | V |
| Every step a corpse in mail | Y2 |
| And behind it lay our monarch | D3 |
| Clenching still his shivered sword | V |
| By his side Montrose and Athole | Y2 |
| At his feet a southern lord | V |
| All so thick they lay together | Q |
| When the stars lit up the sky | Z |
| That I knew not who were stricken | M |
| Or who yet remained to die | Z |
| Few there were when Surrey halted | V |
| And his wearied host withdrew | W |
| None but dying men around me | V |
| When the English trumpet blew | W |
| Then I stooped and took the banner | Q |
| As ye see it from his breast | V |
| And I closed our hero's eyelids | R |
| And I left him to his rest | V |
| In the mountains growled the thunder | Q |
| As I leaped the woeful wall | Y2 |
| And the heavy clouds were settling | F |
| Over Flodden like a pall ' | - |
| - | |
| - | |
| XI | V |
William Edmondstoune Aytoun
(1)
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About Edinburgh After Flodden
Edinburgh After Flodden is a poem by William Edmondstoune Aytoun. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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