Song. “Men of England”
Men of England! who inheritRights that cost your sires their blood!Men whose undegenerate spiritHas been proved on land and flood:—
By the foes ye’ve fought uncounted,By the glorious deeds ye’ve done,Trophies captured—breaches mounted,Navies conquered—kingdoms won!
Yet, remember, England gathersHence but fruitless wreaths of fame,If the patriotism of your fathersGlow not in your hearts the same.
What are monuments of bravery,Where no public virtues bloom?What avail in lands of slavery,Trophied temples, arch, and tomb?
Pageants!—Let the world revere usFor our people’s rights and laws,And the breasts of civic heroesBared in Freedom’s holy cause.
Yours are Hampden’s, Russell’s glory,Sydney’s matchless shade is yours,—Martyrs in heroic story,Worth a hundred Agincourts!
We’re the sons of sires that baffledCrowned and mitred tyranny:—They defied the field and scaffoldFor their birthrights—so will we!
Words in this poem
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- fruitless a.
- Lacking, or not bearing, fruit; barren; destitute of offspring; as, a fruitless tree or shrub; a fruitless marriage.
- trophied a.
- Adorned with trophies.
- revere v. t.
- To regard with reverence, or profound respect and affection, mingled with awe or fear; to venerate; to reverence; to honor in estimation. [L. revereri; pref. re- re- + vereri to fear, perh. akin to E. wary: cf. F. révérer.]
- civic a.
- Relating to, or derived from, a city or citizen; relating to man as a member of society, or to civil affairs. Civic crown (Rom. [L.civicus, fr. civis citizen. See City.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song. “Men of England” is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, Project Gutenberg ebook #59788; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Campbell, Song. “Men of England”, in The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems (1824), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59788, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campbell-poems/song-men-of-england.html, id L24426.
Form and metre
Song. “Men of England” is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 2 of the 7 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A inherit · bloodA · spirit · floodA
- 2 ABAB uncountedA · doneB · mountedA · wonB
- 3 -A-A gathers · fameA · fathers · sameA
- 4 ABAB braveryA · bloomB · slaveryA · tombB
- 5 -AAA us · lawsA · heroesA · causeA
- 6 A-A- gloryA · yours · storyA · agincourts
- 7 A-A- baffledA · tyranny · scaffoldA · we
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Men of England! who inherit | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Rights that cost your sires their blood! | 7 | ······· |
| Men whose undegenerate spirit | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Has been proved on land and flood:— | 8 | ···˘···· |
| By the foes ye’ve fought uncounted, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| By the glorious deeds ye’ve done, | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Trophies captured—breaches mounted, | 8 | /˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Navies conquered—kingdoms won! | 8 | /˘/˘˘/˘· |
| Yet, remember, England gathers | 8 | ·˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Hence but fruitless wreaths of fame, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| If the patriotism of your fathers | 10 | ··/˘·˘··/˘ |
| Glow not in your hearts the same. | 7 | ······· |
| What are monuments of bravery, | 9 | ··/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Where no public virtues bloom? | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| What avail in lands of slavery, | 9 | ·˘/···/˘˘ |
| Trophied temples, arch, and tomb? | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Pageants!—Let the world revere us | 8 | /˘···˘/· |
| For our people’s rights and laws, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And the breasts of civic heroes | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Bared in Freedom’s holy cause. | 8 | ·˘·/˘/˘· |
| Yours are Hampden’s, Russell’s glory, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Sydney’s matchless shade is yours,— | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Martyrs in heroic story, | 8 | /˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Worth a hundred Agincourts! | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘· |
| We’re the sons of sires that baffled | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Crowned and mitred tyranny:— | 8 | ·˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| They defied the field and scaffold | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| For their birthrights—so will we! | 7 | ··/···· |
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