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[Page 354]
BOADICEA,
AN ODE.
1.
1 WHEN the British warrior queen,
2 Bleeding from the Roman rods,
3 Sought with an indignant mien,
4 Counsel of her country's gods,
2.
[Page 355]5 Sage beneath a spreading oak
6 Sat the Druid, hoary chief,
7 Ev'ry burning word he spoke,
8 Full of rage and full of grief.
3.
9 Princess! if our aged eyes
10 Weep upon thy matchless wrongs,
11 'Tis because resentment ties
12 All the terrors of our tongues.
4.
13 Rome shall perish — write that word
14 In the blood that she has spilt;
15 Perish hopeless and abhorr'd,
16 Deep in ruin as in guilt.
5.
17 Rome for empire far renown'd,
18 Tramples on a thousand states,
19 Soon her pride shall kiss the ground —
20 Hark! the Gaul is at her gates.
6.
[Page 356]21 Other Romans shall arise,
22 Heedless of a soldier's name,
23 Sounds, not arms, shall win the prize,
24 Harmony the path to fame.
7.
25 Then the progeny that springs
26 From the forests of our land,
27 Arm'd with thunder, clad with wings,
28 Shall a wider world command.
8.
29 Regions Caesar never knew,
30 Thy posterity shall sway,
31 Where his eagles never flew,
32 None invincible as they.
9.
33 Such the bards prophetic words,
34 Pregnant with celestial fire,
35 Bending as he swept the chords
36 Of his sweet but awful lyre.
10.
[Page 357]37 She with all a monarch's pride,
38 Felt them in her bosom glow,
39 Rush'd to battle, fought and died,
40 Dying, hurl'd them at the foe.
11.
41 Ruffians, pittiless as proud,
42 Heav'n awards the vengeance due,
43 Empire is on us bestow'd,
44 Shame and ruin wait for you.
About this text
Author: William Cowper
Themes:
patriotism; glory of the British nation
Genres:
ode
Text view / Document view
Source edition
Cowper, William, 1731-1800. Poems: by William Cowper, of the Inner Temple, Esq. London: printed for J. Johnson, 1782, pp. 354-357. [4],367,[1]p. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T14895; OTA K027775.000) (Page images digitized by the University of California Libraries.)
Editorial principles
The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.
Other works by William Cowper
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- AN EPISTLE TO JOSEPH HILL, ESQ. ()
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- HOPE. ()
- HORACE. Book the 2d. ODE the 10th. ()
- HUMAN FRAILTY. ()
- THE LILY AND THE ROSE. ()
- THE LOVE OF THE WORLD REPROVED; OR, HYPOCRISY DETECTED. ()
- THE MODERN PATRIOT. ()
- MUTUAL FORBEARANCE, Necessary to the Happiness of the Married State. ()
- THE NIGHTINGALE AND GLOW-WORM. ()
- ODE TO PEACE. ()
- On a GOLDFINCH starved to Death in his Cage. ()
- On observing some Names of little Note recorded in the BIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA. ()
- On the Burning of LORD MANSFIELD'S Library, together with his MSS. by the Mob, in the Month of June, 1780. ()
- On the Promotion of EDWARD THURLOW, Esq. to the Lord High Chancellorship of ENGLAND. ()
- ON THE SAME. ()
- The PINE APPLE and the BEE. ()
- THE POET, THE OYSTER, AND SENSITIVE PLANT. ()
- THE PROGRESS OF ERROR. ()
- A REFLECTION on the foregoing ODE. ()
- REPORT Of an adjudged Case not to be found in any of the Books. ()
- RETIREMENT. ()
- THE SHRUBBERY, Written in a Time of Affliction. ()
- TABLE TALK. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK I. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK II. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK III. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK IV. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK V. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK VI. ()
- TIROCINIUM. ()
- To the REV. MR. NEWTON. An Invitation into the Country. ()
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- [Translation] 1. THE GLOW-WORM, ()
- [Translation] 2. THE JACK DAW. ()
- [Translation] 3. THE CRICKET. ()
- [Translation] 4. THE PARROT. ()
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- VERSES, supposed to be written by ALEXANDER SELKIRK, during his solitary Abode in the Island of JUAN FERNANDEZ. ()
- THE WINTER NOSEGAY. ()