Classic and Contemporary Poetry
GRAVE OF HOWARD, by WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Howard! It matters not that far away Last Line: To think, -- on yonder shore the christian died. Subject(s): Kherson, Russia; Russia; Tatars; Soviet Union; Russians; Tartars | ||||||||
HOWARD! it matters not that far away From Albion's peaceful shore thy bones decay: Him it might please, by whose sustaining hand Thy steps were led through many a distant land, Thy long and last abode should there be found, Where many a savage nation prowls around: That Virtue from the hallowed spot might rise, And, pointing to the finished sacrifice, Teach to the roving Tartar's savage clan Lessons of love, and higher aims of man. The hoary chieftain, who thy tale shall hear, Pale on thy grave shall drop his faltering spear; The cold, unpitying Cossack thirst no more To bathe his burning falchion deep in gore; Relentless to the cry of carnage speed, Or urge o'er gasping heaps his panting steed! Nor vain the thought that fairer hence may rise New views of life and wider charities. Far from the bleak Riphean mountains hoar, From the cold Don, and Wolga's wandering shore, From many a shady forest's lengthening tract, From many a dark-descending cataract, Succeeding tribes shall come, and o'er the place, Where sleeps the general friend of human race, Instruct their children what a debt they owe; Speak of the man who trode the paths of woe; Then bid them to their native woods depart, with new-born virtue stirring in their heart. When o'er the sounding Euxine's stormy tides In hostile pomp the Turk's proud navy rides, Bent on the frontiers of the Imperial Czar, To pour the tempest of vindictive war; If onward to those shores they haply steer, Where, Howard, thy cold dust reposes near, Whilst o'er the wave the silken pennants stream, And seen far off the golden crescents gleam, Amid the pomp of war, the swelling breast Shall feel a still unwonted awe impressed, And the relenting Pagan turn aside To think, -- on yonder shore the Christian died. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SIEGE OF KAZAN; TARTAR SONG by ALEXANDER BOREJKO CHODZKO POOR TARTAR; A HUNGARIAN LEGEND by JOHN GODFREY SAXE THE INVASION OF THE TARTARS by ANONYMOUS AT DOVER CLIFFS, JULY 20, 1787 by WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES ON THE RHINE by WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES DISCOVERY OF MADEIRA by WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES GIBBON by WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES INSCRIPTION IN NETHER STOREY CHURCH IN MEMORY OF RICHARD CAMPLIN by WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES |
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