THOMAS GRAY (1716-1771)

THE BARD: A PINDARIC ODE

ADVERTISEMENT (1757 by Gray)

I.1  Strophe

"Ruin seize thee, ruthless King!
Confusion on thy banners wait,
Tho' fanned by Conquest's crimson wing
They mock the air with idle state.
Helm, nor Hauberk's twisted mail,
Nor even thy virtues, Tyrant, shall avail
To save thy secret soul from nightly fears,
From Cambria's curse, from Cambria's tears!"
Such were the sounds, that o'er the crested pride
Of the first Edward scatter'd wild dismay,		10
As down the steep of Snowdon's shaggy side
He wound with toilsome march his long array.
Stout Glo'ster stood aghast in speechless trance:
"To arms!" cried Mortimer, and couch'd his quiv'ring lance. 


I.2  Antistrophe

On a rock, whose haughty brow
Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood,
Robed in the sable garb of woe,
With haggard eyes the Poet stood;
(Loose his beard, and hoary hair
Stream'd, like a meteor, to the troubled air)		20
And with a Master's hand, and Prophet's fire,
Struck the deep sorrows of his lyre.
"Hark, how each giant-oak, and desert cave,
Sighs to the torrent's aweful voice beneath!
O'er thee, oh King! their hundred arms they wave,
Revenge on thee in hoarser murmurs breath;
Vocal no more, since Cambria's fatal day,
To high-born Hoel's harp, or soft Llewellyn's lay.


I.3  Epode

Cold is Cadwallo's tongue,
That hush'd the stormy main: 				30
Brave Urien sleeps upon his craggy bed:
Mountains, ye mourn in vain
Modred, whose magic song
Made huge Plinlimmon bow his cloud-top'd head.
On dreary Arvon's shore they lie,
Smear'd with gore, and ghastly pale:
Far, far aloof th' affrighted ravens sail;
The famish'd Eagle screams, and passes by.
Dear lost companions of my tuneful art,
Dear, as the light that visits these sad eyes,		40
Dear, as the ruddy drops that warm my heart,
Ye died amidst your country's cries--
No more I weep.  They do not sleep. 
On yonder cliffs, a griesly band,
I see them sit, they linger yet,
Avengers of their native land:
With me in dreadful harmony they join,
And weave with bloody hands, the tissue of thy line."


II.1  Strophe

"Weave the warp, and weave the woof,
The winding-sheet of Edward's race.			50
Give ample room, and verge enough
The characters of hell to trace.
Mark the year, and mark the night,
When Severn shall re-eccho with affright
The shrieks of death, thro' Berkley's roofs that ring,
Shrieks of an agonizing King!
She-Wolf of France, with unrelenting fangs,
That tear'st the bowels of thy mangled Mate,
From thee be born, who o'er thy country hangs
The scourge of Heav'n.  What Terrors round him wait!	60
Amazement in his van, with Flight combined,
And Sorrow's faded form, and Solitude behind.


II.2  Antistrophe

Mighty Victor, mighty Lord,
Low on his funeral couch he lies!
No pitying heart, no eye, afford
A tear to grace his obsequies.
Is the sable Warriour fled?
Thy son is gone.  He rests among the Dead.
The Swarm, that in thy noon-tide beam were born?
Gone to salute the rising Morn.				70
Fair laughs the Morn, and soft the Zephyr blows,
While proudly riding o'er the azure realm
In gallant trim the gilded Vessel goes;
Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm;
Regardless of the sweeping Whirlwind's sway,
That, hush'd in grim repose, expects his evening-prey.




II.3  Epode

Fill high the sparkling bowl,
The rich repast prepare,
Reft of a crown, he yet may share the feast:
Close by the regal chair				80
Fell Thirst and Famine scowl
A baleful smile upon their baffled Guest.
Heard ye the din of battle bray,
Lance to lance, and horse to horse?
Long Years of havock urge their destined course,
And thro' the kindred squadrons mow their way.
Ye Towers of Julius, London's lasting shame,
With many a foul and midnight murther fed,
Revere his Consort's faith, his Father's fame,
And spare the meek Usurper's holy head.			90
Above, below, the rose of snow,
Twined with her blushing foe, we spread:
The bristled Boar in infant-gore
Wallows beneath the thorny shade.
Now, Brothers, bending o'er th' accursed loom
Stamp we our vengeance deep, and ratify his doom.


III.1  Strophe

Edward, lo! to sudden fate
(Weave the woof. The thread is spun)
Half of thy heart we consecrate.
(The web is wove. The work is done.)"			100
"Stay, oh stay! nor thus forlorn
Leave me unbless'd, unpitied, here to mourn:
In yon bright track, that fires the western skies,
They melt, they vanish from my eyes.
But oh! what solemn scenes on Snowden's height
Descending slow their glitt'ring skirts unroll?
Visions of glory, spare my aching sight,
Ye unborn Ages, crowd not on my soul!
No more our long-lost Arthur we bewail.
All-hail, ye genuine Kings, Brittania's Issue, hail!	110


III.2  Antistrophe

Girt with many a Baron bold
Sublime their starry fronts they rear;
And gorgeous Dames, and Statesmen old
In bearded majesty, appear.
In the midst a Form divine!
Her eye proclaims her of the Briton-Line;
Her lyon-port, her awe-commanding face,
Attemper'd sweet to virgin-grace.
What strings symphonious tremble in the air,
What strains of vocal transport round her play!		120
Hear from the grave, great Taliessin, hear;
They breathe a soul to animate thy clay.
Bright Rapture calls, and soaring, as she sings,
Waves in the eye of Heav'n her many-colour'd wings.


III.3  Epode

The verse adorn again
Fierce War, and faithful Love,
And Truth severe, by fairy Fiction drest.
In buskin'd measures move
Pale Grief, and pleasing Pain,
With Horrour, Tyrant of the throbbing breast.		130
A Voice, as of the Cherub-Choir,
Gales from blooming Eden bear;
And distant warblings lessen on my ear,
That lost in long futurity expire.
Fond impious Man, think'st thou, yon sanguine cloud,
Rais'd by thy breath, has quench'd the Orb of day?
To-morrow he repairs the golden flood,
And warms the nations with redoubled ray.
Enough for me:  With joy I see
The different doom our Fates assign.			140
Be thine Despair, and scept'red Care,
To triumph, and to die, are mine."
He spoke, and headlong from the mountain's height
Deep in the roaring tide he plung'd to endless night.

Notes:
1. The last of Welsh bards calls doom on the race of Edward I.
8. Wales.
11. Tallest mountain in Britain.
28. Hywel (d. 1170) and Llewellyn (d. 1282), Princes of Wales.
29. Gray invents names.
35. Opposite the island of Anglesey taken by Edward in 1282.
49. The slaughtered bards spin the destiny of Edward's line.
56. Edward II was murdered in Berkeley Castle in 1327.
57. Isabel of France, Edward II's consort.
60.  Edward III, son of Edward II and Isabel, invaded and conquered 
northern France.
67. The Black Prince, Edward's son, predeceased him.
71. Richard II's court was notable for its magnificence. 
87. The Tower of London, where kings and their heirs would be imprisoned 
and murdered.
90. The saintly Henry VI was upheld by the force of his Queen, Margaret 
of Anjou, and the heroism of his father Henry V.
92. The white and red roses were, respectively, devices of the 
houses of York and Lancaster: hence, the wars of the roses.
94. Alluding to Richard III's murder of his nephews and defeat at 
Bosworth Field.
99. Eleanor of Castile, Edward's queen, died shortly after his conquest 
of Wales.
101. The ghosts end, leaving the bard alone. 
110.  The house of Tudor, which acceded on the death of Richard III, is 
of Welsh origins.
112. Crowned brows.
115. Elizabeth I.
121. Sixth century bard.
126. quotes the Proem to Spenser's Faerie Queene.
130. Shakespeare.
132.  Milton.