William Wallace.

(For the Ballarat statue of him.)


This is Scotch William Wallace. It was he
Who in dark hours first raised his face to see:
    Who watched the English tyrant nobles spurn,
Steel-clad, with iron hoofs the Scottish free:

    Who armed and drilled the simple footman Kern,
    Yea, bade in blood and rout the proud Knight learn
His Feudalism was dead, and Scotland stand
    Dauntless to wait the day of Bannockburn!

O Wallace, peerless lover of thy land,
We need thee still, thy moulding brain and hand!
    For us, thy poor, again proud tyrants spurn,
The robber rich, a yet more hateful band!

Francis William Lauderdale Adams

Francis William Lauderdale Adams (27 September 1862 – 4 September 1893) was an English writer, poet, dramatist, and social reformer. His literary work often reflected his radical socialist views. Adams lived a life marred by poverty and struggles with his health, eventually committing suicide at the age of 30. Despite his brief life, his contributions to literature and social thought remain significant.

Francis William Lauderdale Adams

Defeat?

Francis William Lauderdale Adams, Simple Poetry

Dirge. (Brisbane.) "A Little Soldier Of The Army Of The Night."

Francis William Lauderdale Adams, Simple Poetry

Upstarts.

Francis William Lauderdale Adams, Simple Poetry

To An Old Friend In England. "Esau."

Francis William Lauderdale Adams, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

Bannockburn. Robert Bruce's Address To His Army. (Second Version.)

I.

    Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled,
    Scots, wham Bruce has aften led;
    Welcome to your gory bed,
        Or to glorious victorie!

II.

    Now's the day, and now's the hour
    See the front o' battle lour;
    See approach proud Edward's power
        Edward! chains and slaverie!

III.

    Wha will be a traitor-knave?
    Wha can fill a coward's grave?
    Wha sae base as be a slave?
        Traitor! coward! turn and flee!

IV.

    Wha for Scotland's king and law
    Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
    Freeman stand, or freeman fa',
        Caledonian! on wi' me!

V.

    By oppression's woes and pains!
    By our sons in servile chains!
    We will drain our dea...

Robert Burns

Memorials Of A Tour In Scotland 1814 - II. Composed At Cora Linn - In Sight Of Wallace's Tower

"How Wallace fought for Scotland, left the name
Of Wallace to be found, like a wild flower,
All over his dear Country; left the deeds
Of Wallace, like a family of ghosts,
To people the steep rocks and river banks,
Her natural sanctuaries, with a local soul
Of independence and stern liberty."
- See The Prelude, Book I, Lines 214-20.



Lord of the vale! astounding Flood;
The dullest leaf in this thick wood
Quakes conscious of thy power;
The caves reply with hollow moan;
And vibrates, to its central stone,
Yon time-cemented Tower!

And yet how fair the rural scene!
For thou, O Clyde, hast ever been
Beneficent as strong;
Pleased in refreshing dews to steep
The little trembling flowers that peep
Thy shelving rocks among.

William Wordsworth

Bruce To His Men At Bannockburn. (First Version.)

Tune - "Hey, tuttie taitie."



I.

    Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled,
    Scots, wham Bruce has aften led;
    Welcome to your gory bed,
            Or to victorie!

II.

    Now's the day, and now's the hour;
    See the front o' battle lour:
    See approach proud Edward's pow'r
            Chains and slaverie!

III.

    Wha will be a traitor-knave?
    Wha can fill a coward's grave?
    Wha sae base as be a slave!
            Let him turn and flee!

IV.

    Wha for Scotland's king and law
    Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
    Freeman stand, or freeman fa',
            Let him follow me!

V.

    By oppression's woes and pains!
    By our sons in ...

Robert Burns

The Dirge Of Wallace

When Scotland's great Regent, our warrior most dear,
The debt of his nature did pay,
T' was Edward, the cruel, had reason to fear,
And cause to be struck with dismay.

At the window of Edward the raven did croak,
Though Scotland a widow became;
Each tie of true honor to Wallace he broke
The raven croaked "Sorrow and shame!"

At Eldersie Castle no raven was heard,
But soothings of honor and truth;
His spirit inspired the soul of the bard
To comfort the Love of his youth!

They lighted the tapers at dead of night,
And chanted their holiest hymn;
But her brow and her bosom were all damp with affright,
Her eye was all sleepless and dim!

And the lady of Eldersie wept for her lord,
With a death-watch beat in her lonely room,
When her c...

Thomas Campbell

Liberty. - A Fragment.

    Thee, Caledonia, thy wild heaths among,
    Thee, fam'd for martial deed and sacred song,
        To thee I turn with swimming eyes;
    Where is that soul of freedom fled?
    Immingled with the mighty dead!
        Beneath the hallow'd turf where Wallace lies!
    Hear it not, Wallace, in thy bed of death!
        Ye babbling winds, in silence sweep;
        Disturb not ye the hero's sleep,
    Nor give the coward secret breath.
        Is this the power in freedom's war,
        That wont to bid the battle rage?
    Behold that eye which shot immortal hate,
        Crushing the despot's proudest bearing!

Robert Burns

Scotland: A Jacobite's Lament.

Where are those days, O Caledon,
So glorious and bright,
In which thy star resplendent shone
With passing lustrous light?
Alas! alas! those happier days
Are shrouded in the past,
Thy glory was like that of Greece,
Too bright it shone to last.

Where are those knightly heroes bold,
Those champions of the right,
That bore the shield and couched the lance
So valiant in the fight?
Whether for king and country's weal
In freedom's cause they strove,
Or courted glory and renown
To win their lady-love.

The Wallace nobly lived and died
To save his land from shame,
The royal Bruce as nobly fought
Her freedom to reclaim.
How would their generous hearts have mourned
Could they have pierced the veil,
And, peering into future years,<...

W. M. MacKeracher