Ye Mariners of England: A Naval Ode
Ye Mariners of England!That guard our native seas;Whose flag has braved, a thousand years,The battle and the breeze!Your glorious standard launch againTo meet another foe!And sweep through the deep,While the stormy tempests blow;While the battle rages loud and long,And the stormy tempests blow.
The spirits of your fathersShall start from every wave!—For the deck it was their field of fame,And Ocean was their grave:Where Blake and mighty Nelson fell,Your manly hearts shall glow,As ye sweep through the deep,While the stormy tempests blow;While the battle rages loud and long,And the stormy tempests blow.
Britannia needs no bulwark,No towers along the steep;Her march is o’er the mountain-waves,Her home is on the deep.With thunders from her native oak,She quells the floods below,—As they roar on the shore,When the stormy tempests blow:When the battle rages loud and long,And the stormy tempests blow.
The meteor flag of EnglandShall yet terrific burn;Till danger’s troubled night depart,And the star of peace return.Then, then, ye ocean-warriors!Our song and feast shall flowTo the fame of your name,When the storm has ceased to blow;When the fiery fight is heard no more,And the storm has ceased to blow.
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.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- britannia n.
- A white-metal alloy of tin, antimony, bismuth, copper, etc. It somewhat resembles silver, and isused for table ware. Called also Britannia metal. [From L. Britannia Great Britain.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- bulwark n.
- A rampart; a fortification; a bastion or outwork. [Akin to D. bolwerk, G. bollwerk, Sw. bolwerk, Dan. bolvärk, bulvärk, rampart; akin to G. bohle plank, and werk work, defense. See Bole stem, and Work, n., and c]
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ye Mariners of England: A Naval Ode 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, Ye Mariners of England: A Naval Ode, in The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems (1824), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59788, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campbell-poems/ye-mariners-of-england-a-naval-ode.html, id L24405.
Form and metre
Ye Mariners of England: A Naval Ode is 40 lines in 4 stanzas of 10 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in iambic 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-B-B-B england · seasA · years · breezeA · again · foeB · deep · blowB · long · blowB
- 2 -A-A-B-B-B fathers · waveA · fame · graveA · fell · glowB · deep · blowB · long · blowB
- 3 AB-BAC-C-C bulwarkA · steepB · waves · deepB · oakA · belowC · shore · blowC · long · blowC
- 4 -A-A-B-B-B england · burnA · depart · returnA · warriors · flowB · name · blowB · more · blowB
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 iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Ye Mariners of England! | 7 | ·/˘˘·/˘ |
| That guard our native seas; | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Whose flag has braved, a thousand years, | 9 | ····˘·/˘· |
| The battle and the breeze! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Your glorious standard launch again | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| To meet another foe! | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And sweep through the deep, | 5 | ····· |
| While the stormy tempests blow; | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| While the battle rages loud and long, | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| And the stormy tempests blow. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| The spirits of your fathers | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Shall start from every wave!— | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| For the deck it was their field of fame, | 9 | ········· |
| And Ocean was their grave: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Where Blake and mighty Nelson fell, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Your manly hearts shall glow, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| As ye sweep through the deep, | 6 | ······ |
| While the stormy tempests blow; | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| While the battle rages loud and long, | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| And the stormy tempests blow. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Britannia needs no bulwark, | 8 | ˘/˘˘··/˘ |
| No towers along the steep; | 7 | ·/˘˘/·· |
| Her march is o’er the mountain-waves, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Her home is on the deep. | 6 | ······ |
| With thunders from her native oak, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| She quells the floods below,— | 6 | ······ |
| As they roar on the shore, | 6 | ······ |
| When the stormy tempests blow: | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| When the battle rages loud and long, | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| And the stormy tempests blow. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| The meteor flag of England | 8 | ·/˘˘··/˘ |
| Shall yet terrific burn; | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Till danger’s troubled night depart, | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘·˘/ |
| And the star of peace return. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Then, then, ye ocean-warriors! | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Our song and feast shall flow | 7 | /˘····· |
| To the fame of your name, | 6 | ······ |
| When the storm has ceased to blow; | 7 | ······· |
| When the fiery fight is heard no more, | 10 | ··/˘˘····· |
| And the storm has ceased to blow. | 7 | ······· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.