Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
I. PatriotismRule, Britannia
James Thomson (17001748)W
Arose from out the azure main,
This was the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sung the strain:
Rule, Britannia, rule the waves!
For Britons never will be slaves.
Must in their turns to tyrants fall;
Whilst thou shalt flourish, great and free,
The dread and envy of them all.
Rule, Britannia! etc.
More dreadful from each foreign stroke;
As the loud blasts that tear the skies
Serve but to root thy native oak.
Rule, Britannia! etc.
All their attempts to bend thee down
Will but arouse thy generous flame,
And work their woe—but thy renown.
Rule, Britannia! etc.
Thy cities shall with commerce shine;
All thine shall be the subject main,
And every shore it circles thine.
Rule, Britannia! etc.
Shall to thy happy coast repair;
Blest Isle! with matchless beauty crowned,
And manly hearts to guard the fair.
Rule, Britannia, rule the leaves!
For Britons never will be slaves.