History & Politics
Six thousand Veterans practis'd in War's game
From Poems, in Two Volumes (1807)
Six thousand Veterans practis'd in War's game,
Tried Men, at Killicranky were array'd
Against an equal Host that wore the Plaid,
Shepherds and Herdsmen.--Like a whirlwind came
The Highlanders, the slaughter spread like flame;
And Garry thundering down his mountain-road
Was stopp'd, and could not breathe beneath the load
Of the dead bodies. 'Twas a day of shame
For them whom precept and the pedantry
Of cold mechanic battle do enslave.
Oh! for a single hour of that Dundee
Who on that day the word of onset gave!
Like conquest would the Men of England see;
And her Foes find a like inglorious Grave.
Cite this poem
MLA
Wordsworth, William. “Six thousand Veterans practis'd in War's game.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/wordsworth/86/.
Chicago
Wordsworth, William. “Six thousand Veterans practis'd in War's game.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/wordsworth/86/.
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