The Banner of Five Byzants
Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)
St. George for merrie England !
Fling our banner to the breeze ;
That flag is borne to sweep the shore,
As it has swept the seas.
St. George for merrie England !
Our step is on the land,
Oh France ! thy sun is wrong to shine
On English battle-brand.
The pennons float o'er gallant ranks,
With heart and eye of flame :
Some ride to win their lady's grace ;
Some for a warrior's name.
I wear no colours in my cap,
And little do I care,
When monkish chronicles are writ,
Though my name be not there.
I will not fight for lady's love,
Life is a price too high ;
I will not shed my blood for what
A few soft words will buy.
And still less reck I of the fame
For which the madman bleeds ;
'Tis but a record on the page,
One of a thousand reads.
See, yonder sweeps my pennon brave,
With byzants scattered o'er
But sparingly, — they were my last —
Now I must fight for more.
I love the festal hall, where smiles
Light up the purple wine ;
And ever to win entrance there,
Or gold or steel must shine.
My banner, with its red byzants,
Points out the soldier's way —
On, on ! that golden crest must be,
The foremost in the fray !
The subject of this ballad is taken from an account of a young knight, Allan le Zouch, at the seige (sic) of Caerlaverock, who bore a banner set with five byzants.
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Submitted by Madeleine Quinn on May 05, 2016
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:16 min read
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Quick analysis:
Scheme | Abcb Aded xfxf xgxg xhxh fixi xxxc xege bjxj b |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,287 |
Words | 249 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1 |
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"The Banner of Five Byzants" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/44733/the-banner-of-five-byzants>.
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