Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FOR THE NEW YEAR 1806, by HENRY JAMES PYE


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FOR THE NEW YEAR 1806, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: When ardent zeal for virtuous fame
Last Line: And heroes, yet unborn, shall britain owe to thee.
Subject(s): Holidays; New Year; Trafalgar, Battle Of


When ardent zeal for virtuous fame,
When virtuous honour's holy flame;
Sit on the gen'rous warrior's sword,
Weak is the loudest lay the Muse can sing,
His deeds of valour to record;
And weak the boldest flights of Fancy's wing:
For far above her high career,
Upborne by worth the immortal chief shall rise,
And to the lay-enraptur'd ear
Of Seraphs listening from th' empyreal sphere,
Glory, her hymn divine, shall carol through the skies.

For though the Muse in all unequal strain
Sung of the wreaths that Albion's warriors bore
From ev'ry region and from ev'y shore,
The naval triumphs of her George's reign—
Triumphs by many a valiant son
From Gaul, Iberia, and Batavia won;
Or by St Vincent's rocky mound,
Or sluggish Texel's shoaly sound;
Or Haffnia's hyperborean wave,
Or where Canopus' billows lave
Th' Egyptian coast, while Albion's genius guides
Her dauntless hero through the fav'ring tides,
Where rocks, nor sands, nor tempests' roar,
Nor batteries thundering from the shore,
Arrest the fury of his naval war,
When Glory shines the leading star;
Still higher deeds the lay recording claim,
Still rise Britannia's sons to more exalted fame.

The fervid source of heat and light
Descending through the western skies,
Though veil'd awhile from mortal sight,
Emerging soon with golden beams shall rise,
In orient climes with brighter radiance shine,
And sow th' ethereal plains with flame divine.
So damp'd by Peace's transient smile,
If Britain's glory seem to fade awhile,
Yet when occasion's kindling rays
Relumine valour's gen'rous blaze,
Higher the radiant flames aspire,
And shine with clearer light and glow with fiercer fire.

From Europe's shores th' insidious train,
Eluding Britain's watchful eye,
Rapid across th' Atlantic fly
To isles that stud the western main;
There proud their conqu'ring banners seem to rise,
And fann'd by shadowy triumphs flout the skies:
But, lo! th' avenging Pow'r appears,
His victor-flag immortal Nelson rears;
Swift as the raven's ominous race
Fly the strong eagle o'er th' ethereal space,
The Gallic barks the billowy deep divide,
Their conquests lost in air, o'erwhelm'd in shame their pride.

The hour of vengeance comes—by Gades' tow'rs,
By high Trafalgar's ever-trophied shore,
The godlike warrior on the adverse Pow'rs
Leads his resistless fleet with daring prore,
Terrific as th' electric bolt that flies
With fatal shock athwart the thund'ring skies,
By the mysterious will of Heaven
On man's presuming offspring driven,
Full on the scatter'd foe he hurls his fires,
Performs the dread behest, and in the flash expires—
But not his fame—While chiefs who bleed
For sacred duty's holy meed,
With glory's amaranthine wreath,
By weeping Victory crown'd in death,
In History's awful page shall stand
Foremost amid th' heroic band;
NELSON! so long thy hallow'd name
Thy Country's gratitude shall claim;
And while a people's paeans raise
To thee the choral hymn of praise,
And while a patriot Monarch's tear
Bedews and sanctifies thy bier,
Each youth of martial hope shall feel
True valour's animating zeal;
With emulative wish thy trophies see,
And heroes, yet unborn, shall Britain owe to thee.





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