Category: Poetry
This book is intended to be a representative collection of the patriotic poetry of the British Empire. I have taken a wide view of the term “patriotic”--wide enough, indeed, to include the Jacobite Songs of Scotland and the National Songs of Ireland.
An’ if the colour we must wear is England’s cruel red, Let it remind us of the blood that Ireland has shed; Then pull the shamrock from your hat and throw it on the sod,-- And n...
15. Part 15Yea, England, England, England, Till honour and valour are dead, Till the world’s great cannons rust, Till the world’s great hopes are dust, Till faith and freedom be fled, Till...
9. Part 9We’ll see nae mair the sea-banks fair, And the sweet grey gleaming sky, And the lordly strand of Northumberland, And the goodly towers thereby; And none shall know but the winds...
10. Part 10Essex was fretting in Cadiz Bay With the galleons fair in sight; Howard at last must give him his way, And the word was passed to fight. Never was schoolboy gayer than he, Since...
8. Part 8The feast is spread through England For rich and poor to-day; Greetings and laughter may be there, But thoughts are far away; Over the stormy ocean, Over the dreary track, Where...
12. Part 12Green Flodden! on thy bloodstained head Descend no rain or vernal dew; But still, thou charnel of the dead, May whitening bones thy surface strew! Soon as I tread thy rush-clad...
11. Part 11After dead centuries, Neglect, derision, scorn, And secular miseries, At last our Cymric race again is born, Opens again its heavy sleep-worn eyes, And fronts a brighter morn. S...
6. Part 6The freshening breeze of eve unfurled that banner’s massy fold; The parting gleam of sunshine kissed that haughty scroll of gold; Night sank upon the dusky beach and on the purp...
16. Part 16Green grows the grass around thy crumbling walls Where glorious Lawrence groaned his life away! And childhood’s footsteps echo through those halls Wherein thy wounded and thy dy...
4. Part 4When from my love to part I first weigh’d anchor, And she was sniv’ling seed on the beach below, I’d like to cotch’d my eyes sniv’ling too, d’ye see, to thank her, But I brought...
3. Part 3This lusty ship of Bristol, Sailed out adventurously Against the foes of England, Her strength with them to try; Well victualled, rigged, and manned she was, With good provision...
7. Part 7Dear home in England, safe and fast If but in thee my lot lie cast, The past shall seem a nothing past To thee, dear home, if won at last; Dear home in England, won at last!
14. Part 14How great the loss is thy loss to me! A loss to all who had speech with thee:-- On earth can so hard a heart there be As not to weep for the death of Eoghan? Och, ochón! ’tis I...
5. Part 5‘Homeward, my lads!’ cried the general.--‘Huzza!’ Roll went the drum, and the fife played cheer’ly, To quick time we footed, and sung all the way ‘Hey for the pretty girls we lo...
2. Part 2Agincourt, Agincourt! Know ye not Agincourt, Where English slew and hurt All their French foemen? With their pikes and bills brown, How the French were beat down, Shot by our Bo...
17. Part 17The Charter’s read; the rites are o’er; The trumpet’s blare and cannon’s roar Are silent, and the flags are furled; But not so ends the task to build Into the fabric of the worl...
18. Part 18Produced in 1643. The author was a famous ballad-monger of Charles I.’s time. The original refrain was ‘When the King comes home in peace again’ (_Roxburghe Collection of Ballad...
19. Part 19‘The air of Bonnie Dundee running in my head to-day,’ Scott writes (22nd December), ‘I wrote a few verses to it before dinner, taking the keynote from the story of Clavers leavi...
1. Part 1This book is intended to be a representative collection of the patriotic poetry of the British Empire. I have taken a wide view of the term “patriotic”--wide enough, indeed, to...
20. Part 20Accent marks have been retained, even though other books do not necessarily use them in the same poems. One example of this may be found on page 13, in the ninth line of “King H...