BuonoparteReprinted without any alteration amongEarly Sonnetsin 1872, and unaltered since.He thought to quell the stubborn hearts of oak,Madman!—to chain with chains, and bind with bandsThat island queen who sways the floods and landsFrom Ind to Ind, but in fair daylight woke,When from her wooden walls, lit by sure hands,With thunders and with lightnings and with smoke,Peal after peal, the British battle broke,Lulling the brine against the Coptic sands.We taught him lowlier moods, when ElsinoreHeard the war moan along the distant sea,Rocking with shatter’d spars, with sudden firesFlamed over: at Trafalgar yet once moreWe taught him: late he learned humilityPerforce, like those whom Gideon school’d with briers.
Reprinted without any alteration amongEarly Sonnetsin 1872, and unaltered since.
He thought to quell the stubborn hearts of oak,Madman!—to chain with chains, and bind with bandsThat island queen who sways the floods and landsFrom Ind to Ind, but in fair daylight woke,When from her wooden walls, lit by sure hands,With thunders and with lightnings and with smoke,Peal after peal, the British battle broke,Lulling the brine against the Coptic sands.We taught him lowlier moods, when ElsinoreHeard the war moan along the distant sea,Rocking with shatter’d spars, with sudden firesFlamed over: at Trafalgar yet once moreWe taught him: late he learned humilityPerforce, like those whom Gideon school’d with briers.