THEN the West answered: 'Is the sword's keen edge Like to the mind for sharpness? Doth the flame Devour like thought? Many with chariots came, Squadron and phalanx, legion, square, and wedge; They mounted up; they wound from ledge to ledge Of battle-glory dark with battle-shame; But God hath hurled them from the heights of fame Who from the soul took no eternal pledge. Because above her people and her throne She hath erected reason's sovereignty; Because wherever human speech is known The touch of English breath doth make thought free; Therefore forever is her glory blown About the hills, and flashed beneath the sea.' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO ATLANTA UNIVERSITY - ITS FOUNDERS AND TEACHERS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE WHITE WOMEN by MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE SUNKEN GOLD by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON TO THE LADYBIRD by MOTHER GOOSE L.E.L. by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI SUMMER SUN by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON THE TENT ON THE BEACH: 2. THE WRECK OF RIVERMOUTH by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER |