History & Politics
Ode, Composed for the Birth-Day of the Late Gen. Lord Blakeney
From Poems, Chiefly Pastoral (1766)
The muses harps, by Concord strung!
Loud let them strike the festal lay,
Wak'd by Britannia's grateful tongue,
To hail her hero's natal day.
Arise, paternal glory rise,
And lift your Blakeney to the skies!
Behold his warlike banners wave!
Like Britain's oak the hero stands:
The shield—the shelter of the brave!
The guardian o'er the British bands!
Arise, paternal, &c.
He wrests the wreath from Richlieu's brows,
Which Fraud or Faction planted there;
France to the gallant hero bows,
And Europe's chiefs his name revere.
Arise, paternal, &c.
With partial conquest on their side!
The sons of Gaul—a pageant crew!
Rank, but inglorious in their pride,
To Blakeney, and his vanquish'd few.
Arise, paternal, &c.
Hibernia, with maternal care,
His labour'd statue lifts on high:
Be partial, Time!—the trophy spare,
That Blakeney's name may never die!
Arise, paternal glory, rise!
And lift your Blakeney to the skies.
Codex Note
Text from the Eighteenth Century Collections Online / ECCO-TCP transcription (TCP K093533), Poems, Chiefly Pastoral (1766).
Cite this poem
MLA
Cunningham, John. “Ode, Composed for the Birth-Day of the Late Gen. Lord Blakeney.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/cunningham_j/60/.
Chicago
Cunningham, John. “Ode, Composed for the Birth-Day of the Late Gen. Lord Blakeney.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/cunningham_j/60/.
Read this poem with the Codex →