War-lyrics and Other Poems |
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Common terms and phrases
agen art thou battle bayonet blood blue brave breath burning calm cheer cold crew dark dead dear death deck died dread dream dull dying earth eyes fair fight fire Flag flame fleet forecastle gale gloom glory gone grave grief guns hand hard Hark hast hath head hear heart HEARTS OF OAK Heaven hell hundred Jack Ketch John Brown Land linger lips lonely look marching mighty MOBILE BAY morn mourn neath never night o'er once passed pleasant Plutarch port ratlins regiment roar roll round sail ship shore shroud skipper smile soul stand stood storm strong sullen SUSPIRIA tear thee There's thine thou thousand thunder to-day Tophet traitor true Twas wave wave on wave weary ween white Fang William the Silent wind Wraith wreck wretched wrong
Popular passages
Page 8 - ... battle raged and roared — Ah, had you been aboard To have seen the fight we made ! How they leaped, the tongues of flame, From the cannon's fiery lip ! How the broadsides, deck and frame, Shook the great ship ! And how the enemy's shell Came crashing, heavy and oft, Clouds of splinters flying aloft And falling in oaken showers — But ah, the pluck of the crew ! Had you stood on that deck of ours, You had seen what men may do.
Page 28 - twas sundered) — Under the night's dark blue, Steering steady and true, Ship after ship went through — Till, as we hove in view, Jackson out-thundered. Back echoed Philip ! — ah, then, Could you have seen our men, How they sprung, in the dim night haze, To their work of toil and of clamor!
Page 240 - His temperament was cheerful. At table, the pleasures of which, in moderation, were his only relaxation, he was always animated and merry, and this jocoseness was partly natural, partly intentional. In the darkest hours of his country's trial, he affected a serenity which he was far from feeling, so that his apparent...
Page 18 - Our dead lay cold and stark ; But our dying, down in the dark, Answered as best they might, Lifting their poor lost arms, And cheering for God and Right ! Ended the mighty noise, Thunder of forts and ships. Down we went to the hold...
Page 14 - Chickasaw hammered away ! Quickly breasting the wave, Eager the prize to win, First of us all the brave Monongahela went in Under full head of steam ; — Twice she struck him abeam, Till her stem was a sorry work, (She might have run on a crag !) The Lackawana hit fair, He flung her aside like cork, And still he held for the Flag.
Page 21 - long of thee; Thine the strong agony of strife, And thine the lonely sea. Thine the long decks all slaughter-sprent, The weary rows of cots that lie With wrecks of strong men, marred and rent, 'Neath Pensacola's sky. And thine the iron caves and dens Wherein the flame our war-fleet drives ; The fiery vaults, whose breath is men's Most dear and precious lives ! Ah, ever when with storm sublime Dread Nature clears our murky air, Thus in the crash of falling crime Some lesser guilt must share. Full...
Page 28 - Who could fail with him ? Who reckon of life or limb ? Not a pulse but beat the higher ! There had you seen, by the starlight dim, Five hundred faces strong and grim : The Flag is going under fire ! Right up by the fort, with her helm hard a-port.
Page 235 - PORTION of this book was issued, in the third year of the war, under the title of "Lyrics of a Day, or Newspaper Poetry, by a Volunteer in the US Service," with the following Preface. NOTE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION. ." All the pieces in this volume have been printed heretofore — mostly in the daily papers. Some of them, rather trivial, are included because of their popularity. Indeed all those on war and polity seem to me but ephemeral expressions — suspirid) risttS) elatio — of the great national...
Page 156 - Stand in order, and listen To the holiest page of prayer! Let every foot be quiet, Every head be bare — The soft trade-wind is lifting A hundred locks of hair. Our captain reads the service, (A little spray on his cheeks) The grand old words of burial, And the trust a true heart seeks: — "We therefore commit his body To the deep...
Page 14 - Starboard it was— and so, Like a black squall's lifting frown, Our mighty bow bore down On the iron beak of the Foe. We stood on the deck together. Men that had looked on death In battle and stormy weather; Yet a little we held our breath, When, with the hush of death, The great ships drew together. Our Captain strode to the bow, Drayton, courtly and wise, Kindly cynic, and wise {You hardly had known him now, The flame of fight in his eyes!) — His brave heart eager to feel How the oak would tell...