Ode for General Washington's Birthday
The speaker celebrates Columbia's resistance to tyranny and the dignity of free people, then rebukes England for taking the tyrant's side. Turning to Caledonia, the speaker invokes Wallace's grave and laments the loss of its former defiance.
By Robert Burns · Genre: Ode, Political Poetry, Patriotic Poetry · 697 words
First lines
No Spartan tube, no Attic shell, / No lyre Aeolian I awake; / 'Tis liberty's bold note I swell, / Thy harp, Columbia, let me take! / See gathering thousands, while I sing, / A broken chain exulting bring, / And dash it in a tyrant's face, / And dare him to his very beard, / And tell him he no more is feared- / No more the despot of Columbia's race! / A tyrant's proudest insults brav'd, / They shout-a People freed! They hail an Empire saved. / Where is man's god-like form? / Where is that brow erect and bold- / That eye that can unmov'd behold / The wildest rage, the loudest storm / That e'er created fury dared to raise? / Avaunt! thou caitiff, servile, base, / That tremblest at a despot's nod, / Yet, crouching under the iron rod, / Canst laud the hand that struck th' insulting blow! / Art thou of man's Imperial line? / Dost boast that countenance divine? / Each skulking feature answers, No! / But come, ye sons of Liberty, / Columbia's offspring, brave as free, / In danger's hour still flaming in the van, / Ye know, and dare maintain, the Royalty of Man!
Genres
- Ode — Elevated verse addresses Columbia, Alfred, and Caledonia through exclamations, questions, and appeals.
- Political Poetry — The speaker celebrates liberation from despotic rule, condemns England's allegiance to tyranny, and challenges submission.
- Patriotic Poetry — Praise of Columbia's free people gives way to reproaches directed at England and Caledonia for abandoning resistance to tyranny.
Tags
liberty · tyranny · national independence · patriotism · political poetry
What this Textopian page supports
Ode for General Washington's Birthday is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Burns
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Ode, Political Poetry, Patriotic Poetry
- Length: 697 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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