Skip to content
Linespedia

Embarcation

Topics: classic

(Southampton Docks: October, 1899)     Here, where Vespasian's legions struck the sands,     And Cerdic with his Saxons entered in,     And Henry's army leapt afloat to win     Convincing triumphs over neighbour lands,     Vaster battalions press for further strands,     To argue in the self-same bloody mode     Which this late age of thought, and pact, and code,     Still fails to mend. - Now deckward tramp the bands,     Yellow as autumn leaves, alive as spring;     And as each host draws out upon the sea     Beyond which lies the tragical To-be,     None dubious of the cause, none murmuring,     Wives, sisters, parents, wave white hands and smile,     As if they knew not that they weep the while.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"(Southampton Docks: October, 1899)..."

Exploring the themes of classic, Thomas Hardy delivers a powerful performance in "Embarcation"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Classified Tags

Related lines

"There was a singing woman     Came riding across the mead     At the time of the mild May weather,      Tameless, tireless;     This song she"

"(M. H. 1772-1857)     She told how they used to form for the country dances -      "The Triumph," "The New-rigged Ship" -     To the light of th"

"What did it mean that noontide, when     You bade me pluck the flower     Within the other woman's bower,     Whom I knew nought of then?"

"Some say the spot is banned; that the pillar Cross-and-Hand      Attests to a deed of hell;     But of else than of bale is the mystic tale"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Continue Reading

"There was a singing woman     Came riding across t..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.