"Combien faudrait-il de peaux d'Espagne pour faire un gant de cette grandeur?" A play upon the words @3gant@1, a glove, and @3Gand@1, the French for Ghent. On St. Baron's tower, commanding Half of Flanders, his domain, Charles the Emperor once was standing, While beneath him on the landing Stood Duke Alva and his train. Like a print in books of fables, Or a model made for show, With its pointed roofs and gables, Dormer windows, scrolls and labels, Lay the city far below. Through its squares and streets and alleys Poured the populace of Ghent; As a routed army rallies, Or as rivers run through valleys, Hurrying to their homes they went "Nest of Lutheran misbelievers!" Cried Duke Alva as he gazed; "Haunt of traitors and deceivers, Stronghold of insurgent weavers, Let it to the ground be razed!" On the Emperor's cap the feather Nods, as laughing he replies: "How many skins of Spanish leather, Think you, would, if stitched together Make a glove of such a size?" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EPITAPH INTENDED FOR SIR ISAAC NEWTON, IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY by ALEXANDER POPE SONNET: 78 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE IVORY CRADLE by AUGUSTE ANGELLIER LYSISTRATA: HOW THE WOMEN WILL STOP WAR by ARISTOPHANES TO GEORGE CRUIKSHANK, ESQ., ON SEEING HIS PICTURE ... by MATTHEW ARNOLD THE TURN OF THE ROAD by JANE BARLOW THE GLORY OF ALL ENGLAND by EDWARD WILLIAM BOK HYMN FOR THE ANNIVERSARY OF HARTFORD AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD |