English Narrative Poems

Narrative poetry, English; Readers -- Poetry

And the gunner said 'Ay, ay,' but the seamen made reply:
    'We have children, we have wives,
    And the Lord hath spared our lives.
    We will make the Spaniard promise, if we yield, to let us go;
    We shall live to fight again and to strike another blow.'         95
    And the lion there lay dying, and they yielded to the foe.


    XIII

    And the stately Spanish men to their flagship bore him then
    Where they laid him by the mast, old Sir Richard caught at last,
    And they praised him to his face with their courtly foreign
        grace;
    But he rose upon their decks, and he cried:                      100
    'I have fought for Queen and Faith like a gallant man and true;
    I have only done my duty as a man is bound to do:
    With a joyful spirit I Sir Richard Grenville die!'
    And he fell upon their decks, and he died.


    XIV

    And they stared at the dead that had been so valiant and
        true,                                                        105
    And had holden the power and glory of Spain so cheap
    That he dared her with one little ship and his English few;
    Was he devil or man? He was devil for aught they knew,
    But they sank his body with honour down in the deep,
    And they mann'd the Revenge with a swarthy alien crew,           110
    And away she sail'd with her loss and long'd for her own;
    When a wind from the lands they had ruin'd awoke from sleep,
    And the water began to heave and the weather to moan,
    And or ever that evening ended a great gale blew,
    And a wave like the wave that is raised by an earthquake
         grew,                                                       115
    Till it smote on their hulls and their sails and their
        masts and their flags,
    And the whole sea plunged and fell on the shot-shatter'd navy
        of Spain,
    And the little Revenge herself went down by the island crags
    To be lost evermore in the main.




ROBERT BROWNING

"HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM GHENT TO AIX."


[16--]

    I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;
    I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three;
    "Good speed!" cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew;
    "Speed!" echoed the wall to us galloping through;
    Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest,                  5
    And into the midnight we galloped abreast.

    Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace
    Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place;
    I turned in my saddle and made its girths tight,
    Then shortened each stirrup, and set the pique[234] right,        10
    Rebuckled the cheek-strap, chained slacker the bit,
    Nor galloped less steadily Roland a whit.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

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English Narrative Poems

Narrative poetry, English; Readers -- Poetry

And the gunner said 'Ay, ay,' but the seamen made reply:
    'We have children, we have wives,
    And the Lord hath spared our lives.
    We will make the Spaniard promise, if we yield, to let us go;
    We shall live to fight again and to strike another blow.'         95
    And the lion there lay dying, and they yielded to the foe.


    XIII

    And the stately Spanish men to their flagship bore him then
    Where they laid him by the mast, old Sir Richard caught at last,
    And they praised him to his face with their courtly foreign
        grace;
    But he rose upon their decks, and he cried:                      100
    'I have fought for Queen and Faith like a gallant man and true;
    I have only done my duty as a man is bound to do:
    With a joyful spirit I Sir Richard Grenville die!'
    And he fell upon their decks, and he died.


    XIV

    And they stared at the dead that had been so valiant and
        true,                                                        105
    And had holden the power and glory of Spain so cheap
    That he dared her with one little ship and his English few;
    Was he devil or man? He was devil for aught they knew,
    But they sank his body with honour down in the deep,
    And they mann'd the Revenge with a swarthy alien crew,           110
    And away she sail'd with her loss and long'd for her own;
    When a wind from the lands they had ruin'd awoke from sleep,
    And the water began to heave and the weather to moan,
    And or ever that evening ended a great gale blew,
    And a wave like the wave that is raised by an earthquake
         grew,                                                       115
    Till it smote on their hulls and their sails and their
        masts and their flags,
    And the whole sea plunged and fell on the shot-shatter'd navy
        of Spain,
    And the little Revenge herself went down by the island crags
    To be lost evermore in the main.




ROBERT BROWNING

"HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM GHENT TO AIX."


[16--]

    I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;
    I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three;
    "Good speed!" cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew;
    "Speed!" echoed the wall to us galloping through;
    Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest,                  5
    And into the midnight we galloped abreast.

    Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace
    Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place;
    I turned in my saddle and made its girths tight,
    Then shortened each stirrup, and set the pique[234] right,        10
    Rebuckled the cheek-strap, chained slacker the bit,
    Nor galloped less steadily Roland a whit.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

English Narrative Poems

English Narrative Poems

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