StoryTitle("caps", "The Skeleton in Armour") ?>
Skeleton in Armour" (Longfellow, 1807-82) is a "boy's poem." It
it pure literature and good history.
PoemStart() ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Speak! speak! thou fearful guest!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who, with thy hollow breast", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Still in rude armour drest,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Comest to daunt me!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Wrapt not in Eastern balms,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But with thy fleshless palms", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Stretched, as if asking alms,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Why dost thou haunt me?\"", "") ?>
PagePoem(241, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then from those cavernous eyes", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Pale flashes seemed to rise,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "As when the Northern skies", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Gleam in December;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And, like the water's flow", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Under December's snow,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Came a dull voice of woe", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "From the heart's chamber.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"I was a Viking old!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "My deeds, though manifold,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "No Skald in song has told,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "No Saga taught thee!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Take heed that in thy verse", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Thou dost the tale rehearse,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Else dread a dead man's curse;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "For this I sought thee.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Far in the Northern Land,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "By the wild Baltic's strand,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I, with my childish hand,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Tamed the gerfalcon;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And, with my skates fast-bound,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Skimmed the half-frozen Sound,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That the poor whimpering hound", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Trembled to walk on.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Oft to his frozen lair", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Tracked I the grizzly bear,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "While from my path the hare", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Fled like a shadow;", "") ?>
PagePoem(242, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Oft through the forest dark", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Followed the were-wolf's bark,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Until the soaring lark", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Sang from the meadow.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"But when I older grew,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Joining a corsair's crew,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "O'er the dark sea I flew", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "With the marauders.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Wild was the life we led;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Many the souls that sped,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Many the hearts that bled,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "By our stern orders.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Many a wassail-bout", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Wore the long Winter out;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Often our midnight shout", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Set the cocks crowing,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "As we the Berserk's tale", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Measured in cups of ale,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Draining the oaken pail", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Filled to overflowing.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Once as I told in glee", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Tales of the stormy sea,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Soft eyes did gaze on me,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Burning yet tender;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And as the white stars shine", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "On the dark Norway pine,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "On that dark heart of mine", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Fell their soft splendour.", "") ?>
PagePoem(243, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"I wooed the blue-eyed maid,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Yielding, yet half afraid,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And in the forest's shade", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Our vows were plighted.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Under its loosened vest", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Fluttered her little breast,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Like birds within their nest", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "By the hawk frighted.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Bright in her father's hall", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Shields gleamed upon the wall,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Loud sang the minstrels all,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Chanting his glory;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When of old Hildebrand", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I asked his daughter's hand,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Mute did the minstrels stand", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To hear my story.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"While the brown ale he quaffed,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Loud then the champion laughed,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And as the wind-gusts waft", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The sea-foam brightly,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "So the loud laugh of scorn,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Out of those lips unshorn,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "From the deep drinking-horn", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Blew the foam lightly.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"She was a Prince's child,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I but a Viking wild,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And though she blushed and smiled,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "I was discarded!", "") ?>
PagePoem(244, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Should not the dove so white", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Follow the sea-mew's flight?", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Why did they leave that night", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Her nest unguarded?", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Scarce had I put to sea,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Bearing the maid with me,—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Fairest of all was she", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Among the Norsemen!—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When on the white sea-strand,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Waving his armed hand,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Saw we old Hildebrand,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "With twenty horsemen.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Then launched they to the blast,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Bent like a reed each mast,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Yet we were gaining fast,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "When the wind failed us;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And with a sudden flaw", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Came round the gusty Skaw,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "So that our foe we saw", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Laugh as he hailed us.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"And as to catch the gale", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Round veered the flapping sail,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "'Death!' was the helmsman's hail,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "'Death without quarter!'", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Midships with iron keel", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Struck we her ribs of steel;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Down her black hulk did reel", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Through the black water!", "") ?>
PagePoem(245, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"As with his wings aslant,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sails the fierce cormorant,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Seeking some rocky haunt,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "With his prey laden,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "So toward the open main,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Beating to sea again,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Through the wild hurricane,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Bore I the maiden.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Three weeks we westward bore,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And when the storm was o'er,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Cloud-like we saw the shore", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Stretching to leeward;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There for my lady's bower", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Built I the lofty tower", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Which to this very hour", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Stands looking seaward.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"There lived we many years;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Time dried the maiden's tears;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "She had forgot her fears,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "She was a mother;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Death closed her mild blue eyes;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Under that tower she lies;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Ne'er shall the sun arise", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "On such another.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Still grew my bosom then,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Still as a stagnant fen!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Hateful to me were men,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The sunlight hateful!", "") ?>
PagePoem(246, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "In the vast forest here,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Clad in my warlike gear,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Fell I upon my spear,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Oh, death was grateful!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Thus, seamed with many scars,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Bursting these prison bars,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Up to its native stars", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "My soul ascended!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There from the flowing bowl", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Deep drinks the warrior's soul,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Skoal! to the Northland! skoal!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Thus the tale ended.", "") ?>
PoemAttribution("100", SmallCapsText("Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.")) ?>
PoemEnd() ?>