The Non-Combatant
Sir Henry Newbolt 1862 (Bilston, Staffordshire) – 1938 (Kensington, London)
Among a race high-handed, strong of heart,
Sea-rovers, conquerors, builders in the waste,
He had his birth; a nature too complete,
Eager and doubtful, no man's soldier sworn
And no man's chosen captain; born to fail,
A name without an echo: yet he too
Within the cloister of his narrow days
Fulfilled the ancestral rites, and kept alive
The eternal fire; it may be, not in vain;
For out of those who dropped a downward glance
Upon the weakling huddled at his prayers,
Perchance some looked beyond him, and then first
Beheld the glory, and what shrine it filled,
And to what Spirit sacred: or perchance
Some heard him chanting, though but to himself,
The old heroic names: and went their way:
And hummed his music on the march to death.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 40 sec read
- 58 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJKLMJNOP |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 727 |
Words | 133 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 17 |
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"The Non-Combatant" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/35169/the-non-combatant>.
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