Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE VIRGINIANS OF THE VALLEY, by FRANCIS ORRERY TICKNOR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE VIRGINIANS OF THE VALLEY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The knightliest of the knightly race
Last Line: But not a knight asleep.
Subject(s): American Civil War; Patriotism; United States - History; Virginia (state)


THE knightliest of the knightly race
That, since the days of old,
Have kept the lamp of chivalry
Alight in hearts of gold;
The kindliest of the kindly band
That, rarely hating ease,
Yet rode with Spotswood round the land,
And Raleigh round the seas;

Who climbed the blue Virginian hills
Against embattled foes,
And planted there, in valleys fair,
The lily and the rose;
Whose fragrance lives in many lands,
Whose beauty stars the earth,
And lights the hearths of happy homes
With loveliness and worth.

We thought they slept! -- the sons who kept
The names of noble sires,
And slumbered while the darkness crept
Around their vigil fires;
But aye the "Golden Horseshoe" knights
Their old Dominion keep,
Whose foes have found enchanted ground,
But not a knight asleep.





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