A Call To National Service
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
Up and be doing, all who have a hand
To lift, a back to bend. It must not be
In times like these that vaguely linger we
To air our vaunts and hopes; and leave our land
Untended as a wild of weeds and sand.
- Say, then, "I come!" and go, O women and men
Of palace, ploughshare, easel, counter, pen;
That scareless, scathless, England still may stand.
Would years but let me stir as once I stirred
At many a dawn to take the forward track,
And with a stride plunged on to enterprize,
I now would speed like yester wind that whirred
Through yielding pines; and serve with never a slack,
So loud for promptness all around outcries!
March 1917.
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on April 20, 2023
- 38 sec read
- 81 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBA ACCA XDE ADE |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 637 |
Words | 128 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 3, 3 |
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"A Call To National Service" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/56753/a-call-to-national-service>.
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