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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


OCCASIONED BY THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Poet Analysis

First Line: INTREPID SONS OF ALBION! NOT BY YOU
Last Line: YOUR COUNTRY REARS THIS SACRED MONUMENT!
Subject(s): WATERLOO; BATTLE OF WATERLOO;

INTREPID sons of Albion! not by you
Is life despised; ah no, the spacious earth
Ne'er saw a race who held, by right of birth,
So many objects to which love is due:
Ye slight not life -- to God and Nature true;
But death, becoming death, is dearer far,
When duty bids you bleed in open war:
Hence hath your prowess quelled that impious crew.
Heroes! -- for instant sacrifice prepared;
Yet filled with ardour and on triumph bent
'Mid direst shocks of mortal accident --
To you who fell, and you whom slaughter spared
To guard the fallen, and consummate the event,
Your Country rears this sacred Monument!




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