Analysis of Sublime Was the Warning

Thomas Moore 1779 (Dublin) – 1852 (Bromham)



Sublime was the warning that liberty spoke,
And grand was the moment when Spaniards awoke
Into life and revenge from the conqueror's chain.
Oh, Liberty! let not this spirit have rest,
Till it move, like a breeze, o'er the waves of the west --
Give the light of your look to each sorrowing spot,
Nor, oh, be the Shamrock of Erin forgot
While you add to your garland the Olive of Spain.

If the fame of our fathers, bequeathed with their rights,
Give to country its charm, and to home its delights;
If deceit be a wound, and suspicion a stain,
Then, ye men of Iberia, our cause is the same!
And oh! may his tomb want a tear and a name,
Who would ask for a nobler, a holier death,
Than to turn his last sigh into victory's breath,
For the Shamrock of Erin and the Olive of Spain!

Ye Blakes and O'Donnels, whose fathers resign'd
The green hills of their youth, among strangers to find
That repose which, at home, they had sigh'd for in vain,
Join, join in our hope that the flame, which you light,
May be felt yet in Erin, as calm and as bright,
And forgive even Albion while blushing she draws,
Like a truant, her sword, in the long-slighted cause
Of the Shamrock of Erin and Olive of Spain!

God prosper the cause! -- oh, it cannot but thrive,
While the pulse of one patriot heart is alive,
Its devotion to feel, and its rights to maintain;
Then, how sainted by sorrow its martyrs will die!
The finger of Glory shall point where they lie;
While, far from the footstep of coward or slave,
The young spirit of Freedom shall shelter their grave,
Beneath Shamrocks of Erin and Olives of Spain!


Scheme AABCCDDB EEBFFGGB HHBIIXXB JJBKKLLB
Poetic Form
Metre 01101011001 01101011001 011001101001 11001111011 1111011001101 1011111111 1110111001 111111001011 1011101001111 111011011101 101101001001 11110100101101 01111101001 111101001001 1111110111 101110001011 110111001 011111011011 101111111101 110101101111 111101011011 0011010011011 101001001101 10111001011 11001111011 101111001101 101011011101 111011011011 01011011111 1110111011 011011011011 01111001011
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,593
Words 300
Sentences 11
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 38
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 306
Words per stanza (avg) 75
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:31 min read
108

Thomas Moore

Thomas Moore was an Irish poet singer songwriter and entertainer now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and the The Last Rose of Summer more…

All Thomas Moore poems | Thomas Moore Books

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