ENGLAND, QUEEN OF THE WAVES ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE [The closing poem in a series called "The Armada," written in celebration of the 300th anniversary of the destruction of the Spanish Armada.] England, queen of the waves whose green inviolate girdle enrings thee round, Foes in union of strange communion may rise against thee from far and near: Life that shines from thee shows forth signs that none may read not but eyeless foes: ΙΟ Hate, born blind, in his abject mind grows hopeful now but as madness grows: BY AN EVOLUTIONIST ALFRED TENNYSON [Note these divisions in the poem: the opening stanza, in which the poet imaginatively states the whole subject of the relation of man's body and soul; the four numbered stanzas, giving the two speeches of the Evolutionist; and the reply of Old Age to the first of these speeches.] The Lord let the house of a brute to the soul of a man, And the man said, "Am I your debtor?" And the Lord-“Not yet: but make it as clean as you can, And then I will let you a better." I 20 WHEN BURBAGE PLAYED AUSTIN DOBSON [Burbage was the leading tragic actor of Shakespeare's company, who first played_Hamlet. The form of this poem is the old French rondeau, based on a refrain twice repeated from the opening phrase.] When Burbage played, the stage was bare And yet, no less, the audience there This is the actor's gift: to share ΤΟ Copyrighted by Little, Brown & Company. Reprinted by special permission. [In this poem Kipling celebrated English imperialism at a time when he felt it was little understood by the English themselves. Four omitted lines (after the second) have to do with temporary political conditions.] Winds of the World, give answer! They are whimpering to and fro And what should they know of England who only England know? We may not speak of England; her flag's to sell or share. What is the Flag of England? Winds of the world, declare! The North Wind blew: "From Bergen my steel-shod vanguards go; "I barred my gates with iron, I shuttered my doors with flame, I took the sun from their presence, I cut them down with my blast, * Copyrighted_by Little, Brown & Company. Reprinted by special permission. 2 Dogger. A fishing bank in the North Sea. 10 "The lean white bear hath seen it in the long, long Arctic night, The South Wind sighed: "From the Virgins1 my mid-sea course was ta'en Where the sea-egg flames on the coral and the long-backed breakers croon "Strayed amid lonely islets, mazed amid outer keys, I waked the palms to laughter-I tossed the scud in the breeze. Never was isle so little, never was sea so lone, But over the scud and the palm-trees an English flag was flown. "I have wrenched it free from the halliards to hang for a wisp on the Horn; I have chased it north to the Lizard,2 ribboned and rolled and torn; I have spread its fold o'er the dying, adrift in a hopeless sea; "My basking sunfish know it, and wheeling albatross, The East Wind roared: "From the Kuriles, the Bitter Seas, I come, "The reeling junks behind me, and the racing seas before, I raped your richest roadstead-I plundered Singapore! I set my hand on the Hoogli; as a hooded snake she rose; And I flung your stoutest steamers to roost with the startled crows. "Never the lotos closes, never the wild-fowl wake, But a soul goes out on the East Wind that died for England's sake- Because on the bones of the English the English Flag is stayed. "The desert-dust hath dimmed it, the flying wild-ass knows, 20 30 40 The West Wind called: "In squadrons the thoughtless galleons fly 50 "I draw the gliding fog-bank as a snake is drawn from the hole; They bellow one to the other, the frighted ship-bells toll: For day is a drifting terror till I raise the shroud with my breath, And they see strange bows above them, and the two go locked to death. 1 Virgins. Islands of the West Indies. 2 Lizard. The headland first sighted by ships approaching England from the south. 3 Kuriles. Islands northeast of Japan. 4 Praya. An embankment. 6 Hoogli. The chief branch in the delta of the River Ganges. |