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ODE

ON THE DEATH

OF THE

DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

BY ALFRED TENNYSON,

POET LAUREATE.

LONDON:

EDWARD MOXON, DOVER STREET.

1852.

LONDON:

BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS EXTRAORDINARY TO THE QUEEN,

WHITEFRIARS.

ODE

ON THE DEATH OF

THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

I.

LET us bury the Great Duke

With an empire's lamentation,

Let us bury the Great Duke

To the noise of the mourning of a mighty nation,

When laurel-garlanded leaders fall,

And warriors carry the warrior's pall,

And sorrow darkens hamlet and hall.

II.

Where shall we lay the man whom we deplore?

Let the sound of those he wrought for,

And the feet of those he fought for,

Echo round his bones for evermore.

III.

Lead out the pageant: sad and slow,

As fits an universal woe,

Let the long long procession go,

And let the sorrowing crowd about it grow, And let the mournful martial music blow;

The last great Englishman is low.

IV.

Mourn, for to us he seems the last :
Our sorrow draws but on the golden Past.
O friends, our chief state-oracle is mute :
Mourn for the man of long-enduring blood,
The statesman-warrior, moderate, resolute,
Whole in himself, a common good.
Mourn for the man of largest influence,

Yet freest from ambitious crime,

Our greatest yet with least pretence,
Great in council and great in war,
Foremost captain of his time,
Rich in saving common-sense,
And, as the greatest only are,
In his simplicity sublime.

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