The Castle

Edwin Muir 1887 (Orkney) – 1959 (Cambridge)



All through that summer at ease we lay,
And daily from the turret wall
We watched the mowers in the hay
And the enemy half a mile away
They seemed no threat to us at all.

For what, we thought, had we to fear
With our arms and provender, load on load,
Our towering battlements, tier on tier,
And friendly allies drawing near
On every leafy summer road.

Our gates were strong, our walls were thick,
So smooth and high, no man could win
A foothold there, no clever trick
Could take us, have us dead or quick.
Only a bird could have got in.

What could they offer us for bait?
Our captain was brave and we were true....
There was a little private gate,
A little wicked wicket gate.
The wizened warder let them through.

Oh then our maze of tunneled stone
Grew thin and treacherous as air.
The cause was lost without a groan,
The famous citadel overthrown,
And all its secret galleries bare.

How can this shameful tale be told?
I will maintain until my death
We could do nothing, being sold;
Our only enemy was gold,
And we had no arms to fight it with.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 19, 2023

1:00 min read
231

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAAB CDXCD EFEEF GHGGH IJIIJ KXKKX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,030
Words 202
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Edwin Muir

Edwin Muir was an Orcadian poet, novelist and translator, born on a farm in Deerness on the Orkney Islands. He is remembered for his deeply felt and vivid poetry in plain language with few stylistic preoccupations. more…

All Edwin Muir poems | Edwin Muir Books

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    Who wrote the poem "O Captain! My Captain!"?
    A Emily Dickinson
    B Ezra Pound
    C Walt Whitman
    D Samuel Taylor Coleridge