My soul is sunk in all-suffusing shame

Alfred Austin 1835 (Leeds) – 1913 (Ashford)



My soul is sunk in all-suffusing shame;
Yet not for any individual sin,
But that the world's original fair fame-
My own land's most-is not what it hath been.
Shrieks of intolerable bondage smite,
Without response, its comfortable ears,
Making a craven compromise with Might,
For their own luxury, of others' tears.
Better than this the sanguinary crash
Of fratricidal strokes, and nerveful hate!

So do I hope to hear the sabres clash
And tumbrils rattle when the snows abate.
Love peace who will-I for mankind prefer,
To dungeon or disgrace, a sepulchre.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

29 sec read
39

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCXCXDC DCEE
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 549
Words 95
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 10, 4

Alfred Austin

Alfred Austin DL was an English poet who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896 upon the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. more…

All Alfred Austin poems | Alfred Austin Books

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