Analysis of The Guides At Cabul
Sir Henry Newbolt 1862 (Bilston, Staffordshire) – 1938 (Kensington, London)
Sons of the Island race, wherever ye dwell,
Who speak of your fathers' battles with lips that burn,
The deed of an alien legion hear me tell,
And think not shame from the hearts ye tamed to learn,
When succour shall fail and the tide for a season turn,
To fight with joyful courage, a passionate pride,
To die at last as the Guides of Cabul died.
For a handful of seventy men in a barrack of mud,
Foodless, waterless, dwindling one by one,
Answered a thousand yelling for English blood
With stormy volleys that swept them gunner from gun,
And charge on charge in the glare of the Afghan sun,
Till the walls were shattered wherein they couched at bay,
And dead or dying half of the seventy lay.
Twice they had taken the cannon that wrecked their hold,
Twice toiled in vain to drag it back,
Thrice they toiled, and alone, wary and bold,
Whirling a hurricane sword to scatter the rack,
Hamilton, last of the English, covered their track.
'Never give in!' he cried, and he heard them shout,
And grappled with death as a man that knows not doubt.
And the Guides looked down from their smouldering barrack again,
And behold, a banner of truce, and a voice that spoke:
'Come, for we know that the English all are slain,
We keep no feud with men of a kindred folk;
Rejoice with us to be free of the conqueror's yolk.'
Silence fell for a moment, then was heard
A sound of laughter and scorn, and an answering word.
'Is it we or the lords we serve who have earned this wrong,
That ye call us to flinch from the battle they bade us fight?
We that live--do ye doubt that our hands are strong?
They that are fallen--ye know that their blood was bright!
Think ye the Guides will barter for lust of the light
The pride of an ancient people in warfare bred,
Honour of comrades living, and faith to the dead?'
Then the joy that spurs the warrior's heart
To the last thundering gallop and sheer leap
Came on the men of the Guides: they flung apart
The doors not all their valour could longer keep;
They dressed their slender line; they breathed deep,
And with never a foot lagging or head bent
To the clash and clamour and dust of death they went.
Scheme | ABABBCC DEDEEFF GHGHHII XJXJJKK LMLMMNN OPOPPQQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010101011 111110101111 011110010111 01111011111 111100110101 111101001001 1111101111 10111001001011 11100111 10010101101 110101111011 01110011011 101010011111 011101101001 111100101111 11011111 1110011001 10010111001 100110101011 10101101111 010111011111 001111111001 0010101100111 11111010111 11111110101 0111111101001 1011010111 0111001011001 1111011111111 11111110101111 111111110111 111101111111 110111011101 01111010011 1111001101 10111011 10110010011 11011011101 0111111101 111101111 01100110111 10101011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 2,096 |
Words | 405 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 40 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 277 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 67 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:01 min read
- 96 Views
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"The Guides At Cabul" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/35164/the-guides-at-cabul>.
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