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A War Song for Englishman

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A War Song to Englishmen (By William Blake)
Prepare, prepare the iron helm of war, - jambus, anapaest, jambus, jambus
Bring forth the lots, cast in the spacious orb;
Th' Angel of Fate turns them with mighty hands,
And casts them out upon the darken'd earth!
Prepare, prepare!
Prepare your hearts for Death's cold hand! prepare
Your souls for flight, your bodies for the earth;
Prepare your arms for glorious victory;
Prepare your eyes to meet a holy God!
Prepare, prepare!
Whose fatal scroll is that? Methinks 'tis mine!
Why sinks my heart, why faltereth my tongue?
Had I three lives, I'd die in such a cause,
And rise, with ghosts, over the well-fought field.
Prepare, prepare!
The arrows of Almighty God are drawn!
Angels of Death stand in the louring heavens!
Thousands of souls must seek the realms of light,
And walk together on the clouds of heaven!
Prepare, prepare!
Soldiers, prepare! Our cause is Heaven's cause;
Soldiers, prepare! Be worthy of our cause:
Prepare to meet our fathers in the sky:
Prepare, O troops, that are to fall to-day!
Prepare, prepare!
Alfred shall smile, and make his harp rejoice;
The Norman William, and the learned Clerk,
And Lion Heart, and black-brow'd Edward, with
His loyal queen, shall rise, and welcome us!
Prepare, prepare!
Готовьте, готовьте железные шлемы войны,
Ведите народы, что брошены в сфере огромной;
Могучей рукою направит их Ангел Судьбы
И вырвет из плена, во имя земли, уже чёрной!
Готовьте, готовьте!
Готовьте сердца для Смерти холодной! Готовьте
Вы души свои для полёта, тела – для земли.
Готовьте глаза, чтоб встретили Бога святого,
Для славной победы готовьте вы руки свои!
Готовьте, готовьте!
Чей это приговор? Я думаю, что мой!
Но сердце не замрёт, язык молчать не станет.
Три жизни дайте мне – умру, идя на бой,
Но вознесётся дух над эти полем брани.
Готовьтесь, готовьтесь!
В угрюмом небе Ангел Смерти встал!
И Всемогущий Бог уж приготовил стрелы!
Искать обитель света душам час настал:
По райским облакам пройдут шеренги смело!
Готовьтесь, готовьтесь!
Солдаты, готовьтесь! Мы с Небом едины в делах.
Солдаты, готовьтесь! И дел наших будьте достойны.
Готовьтесь, отцов наших встретите вы в небесах.
Готовьтесь, сегодня должны вы полечь, батальоны!
Готовьтесь, готовьтесь!
Альфред улыбнётся, и арфа его запоёт,
И Норманн Вильгельм, и Львиное Сердце восстанут,
И с верной своей королевой нас в бой поведёт
Король Эдуард. И руки они нам протянут!
Готовьтесь, готовьтесь!
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age.
This poem is from the Poetical Sketches. This is the first collection of poetry and prose by William Blake, written between 1769 and 1777. The book was never published for the public, with copies instead given as gifts to friends of the author and other interested parties. The ballad 'A War Song to Englishmen' is usually interpreted as forming a part of Edward the Third, perhaps written by Blake to be inserted later. Specifically, the poem is seen as the second song of the minstrel, whose first song closes the fragment with a passionate evocation of Brutus of Troy, supposed founder of Britain. "War Song" continues to urge troops to battle and, like the minstrel's first song, is usually interpreted as parody and an ironic celebration of patriotic bloodlust.
Analysis
What is still unclear by the end of the song is why the tyrannical Kings of old England are there to “welcome” the rebels. Perhaps this is representative of Blake’s difficulty with deciding life over freedom. Regardless, the fate of the soldiers reaches beyond England’s history anyhow and is subtly intended for all mankind. Overall, the verse is dignified with patriotism for all humankind, however ironic his patriotism to his own country may appear.
In the end, “A War Song to Englishmen” is an uncharacteristic poem in the Blake canon. A direct call of patriotic duty, it is as obvious in meaning as it appears. It is a general call to war of his countrymen, only not a war of aggression, supremacy, hegemony, or territorial gain, but rather a call of rebellion to the individual to fight for himself to be set free.

The poem is written in 6 stanzas, 5 lines in each. Type of Rhyme – blank verse. Type of stanza – blank verse (near stanza?).
Meter
Prepare, prepare – repetition, anaphora
Iron helm of war – metaphor
Th' Angel of Fate – mythology
Mighty hands – epithet
Death's cold hand – mythology, epithet
Your souls for flight, your bodies for the earth – epithet
Holy God! – mythology, hyperbole
Fatal scroll – mythology, epithet
Methinks – archaism (me thinks)
Sinks my heart – metaphor
Faltereth (дрожит) – archaism
Ghosts – mythology
Well-fought field – epithet
Almighty God – mythology
Angels of Death – mythology
Louring heavens – epithet
Alfred – may be a reference to Alfred the Great
Harp rejoice – epithet
Norman William – may be a reference to William the Conqueror
Black-brow'd Edward – may be a reference Edward the Elder (the son of Alfred the Great)
Lion Heart – may be a reference to Richard I the Lion Heart
Repetition of sounds: p, l, h.
There is one interjection in the text – O.

Summary
The speaker here, arguably a non-human prophet, in this poem is horrified at the world’s upheaval and tyrannical oppressive governing power as well as at his own necessity to call for rebellion. The meter of the song is set in a deliberate marching rhythm pattern to produce that solemn and unified tone of a battle cry, and it is filled with unabashed, rhetorical patriotism. It’s as if Blake is taking something as patriotic as a war cry and turning it over on itself in an ironic manner. Notice how the frist two lines of the poem are twisted in the next two (“the Angel of Fate turns them”). The presence of the Angel suggests a fall is coming, but not if the battle is won.
The “darken’d earth” in line 4 is indicative of a global enslavement of mankind practiced by all societies with government. In this world, there is a total lack of spirituality, inspiration, imagination, and enlightenment. The Angel then presents a “fatal scroll” to any countryman who is willing to take it, that is—who is willing to fight for his/her freedom. The Angel then warns the people that they may die in their cause, but in death one will “rise with ghosts” to a better place.
Stanzas four and five are fairly simple to follow. The battle men face off against “the arrows of Almighty God” that are so great in number, they block out the light from reaching the earth. It is in the final stanza where the poet alludes directly to the horrors of tyrannical history, all of which was accomplished under the auspices of God and church. Collectively, the sins of the “fathers” are being unavoidably handed down to the sons. The message here is that tyranny must be fought with rebellion, and the apocalypse of war must take on a new obverse meaning.

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