Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONG TO THE MEN OF ENGLAND, by THOMAS CAMPBELL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SONG TO THE MEN OF ENGLAND, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Men of england! Who inherit
Last Line: For their birthrights -- so will we!
Subject(s): England; Freedom; English; Liberty


MEN of England! who inherit
Rights that cost your sires their blood!
Men whose undegenerate spirit
Has been proved on field and flood: --

By the foes you've fought uncounted,
By the glorious deeds you've done.
Trophies captured -- breaches mounted,
Navies conquered -- kingdoms won!

Yet, remember, England gathers
Hence but fruitless wreaths of fame,
If the freedom of your fathers
Glow not in your hearts the same.

What are monuments of bravery,
Where no public virtues bloom?
What avail in lands of slavery,
Trophied temples, arch, and tomb?

Pageants! -- Let the world revere us
For our people's rights and laws,
And the breasts of civic heroes
Bared in Freedom's holy cause.

Yours are Hampden's, Russell's glory,
Sidney's matchless shade is yours, --
Martyrs in heroic story,
Worth a hundred Agincourts!

We're the sons of sires that baffled
Crowned and mitred tyranny; --
They defied the field and scaffold
For their birthrights -- so will we!





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