Charles Wolfe - The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna' -

The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna
Poem by
Charles Wolfe 1791--1823
read by Sam Dastor


NOT a drum was heard, not a funeral note, As his corse to the rampart we hurried;
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot O'er the grave where our hero we buried.
We buried him darkly at dead of night, The sods with our bayonets turning,
By the struggling moonbeam's misty light And the lanthorn dimly burning.
No useless coffin enclosed his breast, Not in sheet or in shroud we wound him;
But he lay like a warrior taking his rest With his martial cloak around him.
Few and short were the prayers we said, And we spoke not a word of sorrow;
But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was dead, And we bitterly thought of the morrow.
We thought, as we hollow'd his narrow bed And smooth'd down his lonely pillow,
That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head, And we far away on the billow!
Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that 's gone, And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him—
But little he'll reck, if they let him sleep on In the grave where a Briton has laid him.
But half of our heavy task was done When the clock struck the hour for retiring;
And we heard the distant and random gun That the foe was sullenly firing.
Slowly and sadly we laid him down, From the field of his fame fresh and gory;
We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone, But we left him alone with his glory.

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[spinoza1111]

Fine reading, and many thanks for a fine tribute to an unjustly neglected poem. I'm a Yank, but an admirer of Sir John and straightforward poetry...not in place of Modernist poetry, but in addition.

Five stars.

[JustAudio2008]

Thank you for your kind words, its good to know that this recording I made so long ago is find a new home on the World Wide Web.

Thanks again

( I put a block on your unwanted stalker )

[dcmunro50]

@nathan1289245 Hi my name is don munro and seemingly my great,great......... granddad sir hector munro was supposed to have help carry sir john moores body to the grave, dont suppose you found anything about that in you research :)

[MrGezamo]

The unknown hero of the british army

[pbr2003ie]

Glad to see this poem correctly attributed to Charles Wolfe, a Dublin man. At the time of its publication it was often wrongly attributed to Byron.

Whether you agree with the imperialist sentiment or not it is a superb example of the genre.

[PassionatelyPurple]

You know, that's actually a painting of Robert Craufurd, not Sir John Moore. ;)

[nathan1289245]

I`m doing some research on Sir John Moore and Arthur wellesley. Sir John Moore, was he Scottish and before Spain what other victorys did he have, does anyone know. Thanks.

[ornitorrinco01]

Very enjoyable, thank you for posting.

[spinoza1111]

"and we left him alone with his glory": a fine ending indeed, a trumpet voluntary in which the night and rain of the body of the poem gives way to that Resurrection with which so many English poems end, commencing with The Wanderer:

Wel bið þam þe him are seceð,

It is better for the one that seeks mercy,

Frofre to Fæder on heofonum,

Consolation from the father in the heavens,

þær us eal seo fæstnung stondeð.

where, for us, all permanence rests.

[spinoza1111]

Sir John His Clerihew

Of Sir John Moore

Our memory is poor.

This is most unfortunate

For of true glory he was the very Portrait.