Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONNET: ON THE CHIVALRY OF THE PRESENT TIME, by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE


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SONNET: ON THE CHIVALRY OF THE PRESENT TIME, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ah! Foolish souls and false! Who loudly cried
Last Line: Who had not shunned earth's haughtiest chivalry.
Subject(s): American Civil War; Chivalry; Confederate States Of America; United States - History; Confederacy


AH! foolish souls and false! who loudly cried
"True chivalry no longer breathes in time."
Look round us now; how wondrous, how sublime
The heroic lives we witness; far and wide,
Stern vows by sterner deeds are justified;
Self abnegation, calmness, courage, power,
Sway with a rule august, our stormy hour,
Wherein the loftiest hearts have wrought and died --
Wrought grandly, and died smiling. Thus, oh God,
From tears, and blood, and anguish, thou hast brought
The ennobling act, the faith-sustaining thought --
'Till in the marvellous present, one may see
A mighty stage, by knight and patriots trod,
Who had not shunned earth's haughtiest chivalry.





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