POEMS OF ENGLISH HEROISM. I. BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH. I. ATHELSTAN King, Baron of Barons, He with his brother, Edmund Atheling, Gaining a lifelong Slew with the sword-edge Brake the shield-wall, Hew'd the lindenwood, Hack'd the battleshield, Sons of Edward with hammer'd brands. B II. Theirs was a greatness Got from their Grandsires Theirs that so often in Strife with their enemies Struck for their hoards and their hearths and their homes. III. Bow'd the spoiler, Bent the Scotsman, Fell the shipcrews Doom'd to the death. All the field with blood of the fighters Flow'd, from when first the great Sun-star of morningtide, Lamp of the Lord God Lord everlasting, Glode over earth till the glorious creature IV. There lay many a man Men of the Northland Shot over shield. There was the Scotsman Weary of war. V. We the West-Saxons, Long as the daylight Lasted, in companies Troubled the track of the host that we hated, Grimly with swords that were sharp from the grindstone, Fiercely we hack'd at the flyers before us. VI. Mighty the Mercian, Those that with Anlaf, Warriors over the Weltering waters Borne in the bark's-bosom, Drew to this island, Doom'd to the death. VII. Five young kings put asleep by the sword-stroke, VIII. Then the Norse leader, Dire was his need of it, |