Analysis of To England
I
THERE was a time when all thy sons were proud
To speak thy name,
England, when Europe echoed back aloud
Thy fearless fame:
When Spain reeled shattered helpless from thy guns
And splendid ire,
When from Canadian snows to Indian suns
Pitt's soul was fire.
O that in days like these were, fair and free
From shame and scorn,
Fate had allowed, benignly, pityingly
That I was born!
O that, if struck, then struck with glorious wounds,
I bore apart
(Not torn with fangs of leprous coward hounds)
My bleeding heart!
II
We hate You — not because of cruel deeds
Staining a glorious effort. They who live
Learn in this earth to give and to forgive,
Where heart and soul are noble and fate's needs
Imperious: No, nor yet that cruel seeds
Of power and wrong you've sown alternative,
We hate You, we your sons who yet believe
That truth and justice are not empty creeds!
No, but because of greed and garbled pay,
Wages of sin and death: because you smother
Your conscience, making cursèd all the day.
Bible in one hand, bludgeon in the other,
Cain-like you come upon and slay your brother,
And, kneeling down, thank God for it, and pray!
III
I whom you fed with shame and starved with woe,
I wheel above You,
Your fatal vulture, for I hate You so,
I almost love You!
I smell your ruin out. I light and croak
My sombre lore,
As swaggering You go by, O 'heart of oak'
Rotten to the core!
Look westward! Ireland's vengeful eyes are cast
On freedom won.
Look eastward! India stirs from sleep at last.
You are undone!
Look southward, where Australia hears your voice,
And turns away!
O brutal Hypocrite, she makes her choice
With the rising day!
Foul Esau, you who sold your high birthright
For gilded mud,
Who did the wrong and, priestlike, called it right,
And swindled God! —
The hour is gone of insult, pain and patience;
The hour is come
When they arise, the faithful mightier Nations,
To drag you down!
IV
England, the land I loved
With passionate pride,
For hate of whom I live
Who for love had died,
Can I, while shines the sun,
That hour regain
When I again may come to you
And love again?
No, not while that Flag
Of greed and lust
Flaunts in the air, untaught
To drag the dust! —
Never, till expiant,
I see You kneel,
And, brandished, gleams aloft
The foeman's steel!
Ah, then to speed, and laugh,
As my heart caught the knife
'Mother, I love you! Here,
Here is my life!'
Scheme | Text too long |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 1101111101 1111 1011010101 1101 1111010111 0101 110100111001 11110 1101110101 1101 11010101 1111 11111111001 1101 111111101 1101 1 1111011101 10010010111 1011110101 1101110011 01001111101 11001110100 1111111101 1101011101 1101110101 10110101110 1101011101 10011100010 11110101110 0101111101 1 1111110111 11011 1101011111 1111 1111011101 111 11001111111 10101 1101010111 1101 11010011111 1101 1101010111 0101 110101101 10101 11111111 1101 110101111 0101 010111011010 01011 110101010010 1111 1 100111 11001 111111 11111 111101 11001 11011111 0101 11111 1101 10011 1101 1011 1111 010101 011 111101 111101 101111 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,303 |
Words | 444 |
Sentences | 25 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 78 |
Lines Amount | 78 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,824 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 441 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:14 min read
- 104 Views
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"To England" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/14060/to-england>.
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