But let the storm rage on! Let the fresh wreaths be shed! For the Roncesvalles' field2 is won,? There slumber England's dead.
1. English forces defeated the French at Alexan-more general. dria in the spring of 1801. The rest of the refer-2. Roncesvalles, the mountain pass in the Pyreences? to 18th- and early-19th-century battles in nees between France and Spain, was a scene of India (lines 17?24), America (lines 25?32), Spain action during the Peninsular War (1808?14). (lines 33-40), and on the sea (lines 41?48)?are
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THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS IN NEW ENGLAND / 867
On the frozen deep's repose 'Tis a dark and dreadful hour, When round the ship the ice-fields close, And the northern night clouds lower.
45 But let the ice drift on! Let the cold-blue desert spread! Their course with mast and flag is done,? Even there sleep England's dead.
The warlike of the isles, 50 The men of field and wave! Are not the rocks their funeral piles, The seas and shores their grave?
Go, stranger! track the deep,
Free, free the white sail spread! 55 Wave may not foam, nor wild wind sweep, Where rest not England's dead.
1822
The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in New England
Look now abroad?another race has fill'd Those populous borders?wide the wood recedes, And towns shoot up, and fertile realms are till'd; The land is full of harvests and green meads.
?BRYANT 1
The breaking waves dash'd high On a stern and rock-bound coast, And the woods against a stormy sky Their giant branches toss'd;
5 And the heavy night hung dark, The hills and waters o'er, When a band of exiles moor'd their bark On the wild New England shore.
Not as the conqueror comes, 10 They, the true-hearted, came; Not with the roll of the stirring drums, And the trumpet that sings of fame;
Not as the flying come, In silence and in fear;? 15 They shook the depths of the desert0 gloom desolate With their hymns of lofty cheer.
1. The American poet William Cullen Bryant, The Ages (1821), lines 280-83.
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86 8 / FELICI A DOROTHE A HEMAN S 20Amidst the storm they sang, And the stars heard and the sea; And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang To the anthem of the free! The ocean eagle soar'd From his nest by the white wave's foam; And the rocking pines of the forest roar'd? This was their welcome home! 25 There were men with hoary0 hairAmidst that pilgrim band;? Why had they come to wither there, Away from their childhood's land? white 30There was woman's fearless eye, Lit by her deep love's truth; There was manhood's brow serenely high, And the fiery heart of youth. 35What sought they thus afar? Bright jewels of the mine? The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?? They sought a faith's pure shrine! 40Aye, call it holy ground, The soil where first they trod. They have left unstain'd what there they found? Freedom to worship God. 1826 Casabianca1 The boy stood on the burning deck Whence all but he had fled; The flame that lit the battle's wreck Shone round him o'er the dead. 5 Yet beautiful and bright he stood, As born to rule the storm; A creature of heroic blood, A proud, though childlike form.
1. Young Casabianca, a boy about thirteen years old, son to the Admiral of the Orient, remained at his post (in the Battle of the Nile) after the ship had taken fire, and all the guns had been abandoned; and perished in the explosion of the vessel, when the flames had reached the powder [Hemans's note]. The Battle of the Nile, in which Nelson captured and destroyed the French fleet in Aboukir Bay, took place on August 1, 1798. Admiral Casabianca and his son (who was in fact only ten) were among those killed by the British forces.
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10The flames roll'd on?he would not go Without his Father's word; That Father, faint in death below, His voice no longer heard. 15He call'd aloud:-?'Say, Father, say If yet my task is done?' He knew not that the chieftain lay Unconscious of his son. 20'Speak, Father!' once again he cried, 'If I may yet be gone! And'?but the booming shots replied, And fast the flames roll'd on. Upon his brow he felt their breath, And in his waving hair,
CASABIANCA / 86 9
And look'd from that lone post of death In still, yet brave despair. 25 And shouted but once more aloud, 'My Father! must I stay?' While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud, The wreathing fires made way. 30They wrapt the ship in splendour wild, They caught the flag on high, And stream'd above the gallant child, Like banners in the sky. 35There came a burst of thunder sound? The boy?oh! where was he? Ask of the winds that far around With fragments strew'd the sea!? 40With mast, and helm, and pennon fair, That well had borne their part, But the noblest thing which perish'd there Was that young faithful heart! 1826
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87 0 / FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS
The Homes of England
Where's the coward that would not dare To fight for such a land?
?Marmion'
The stately Homes of England, How beautiful they stand! Amidst their tall ancestral trees, O'er all the pleasant land.
