Poems Every Child Should Know

<h3><SPAN name="Casabianca" id="Casabianca"></SPAN>Casabianca.</h3> <div class="pre_poem"><p>"Casabianca," by Felicia Hemans (1793-1835), is the portrait of a faithful heart, an example of unreasoning obedience. It is right that a child should obey even to the death the commands of a loving parent.</p> </div> <table class="poem" summary="poem"><tr><td><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The boy stood on the burning deck,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Whence all but him had fled;<br/></span> <span class="i0">The flame that lit the battle's wreck<br/></span> <span class="i2">Shone round him o'er the dead.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Yet beautiful and bright he stood,<br/></span> <span class="i2">As born to rule the storm;<br/></span> <span class="i0">A creature of heroic blood,<br/></span> <span class="i2">A proud though childlike form.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The flames rolled on&mdash;he would not go<br/></span> <span class="i2">Without his father's word;<br/></span> <span class="i0">That father, faint in death below,<br/></span> <span class="i2">His voice no longer heard.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He called aloud, "Say, father, say<br/></span> <span class="i2">If yet my task is done?"<br/></span> <span class="i0">He knew not that the chieftain lay<br/></span> <span class="i2">Unconscious of his son.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Speak, father!" once again he cried,<br/></span> <span class="i2">"If I may yet be gone!"<br/></span> <span class="i0">And but the booming shots replied,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And fast the flames rolled on.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Upon his brow he felt their breath,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And in his waving hair;<br/></span> <span class="i0">And looked from that lone post of death<br/></span> <span class="i2">In still, yet brave despair.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">And shouted but once more aloud<br/></span> <span class="i2">"My father! must I stay?"<br/></span> <span class="i0">While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud,<br/></span> <span class="i2">The wreathing fires made way.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">They wrapt the ship in splendour wild,<br/></span> <span class="i2">They caught the flag on high,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And streamed above the gallant child<br/></span> <span class="i2">Like banners in the sky.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Then came a burst of thunder sound&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i2">The boy&mdash;oh! where was he?<br/></span> <span class="i0">&mdash;Ask of the winds that far around<br/></span> <span class="i2">With fragments strew the sea;<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">With mast, and helm, and pennon fair.<br/></span> <span class="i2">That well had borne their part&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">But the noblest thing that perished there<br/></span> <span class="i2">Was that young, faithful heart.<br/></span></div> </td></tr></table> <p class="quotsig"><span class="smcap">Felicia Hemans.</span></p> <h3><SPAN name="The_Captains_Daughter" id="The_Captains_Daughter"></SPAN>The Captain's Daughter.</h3> <div class="pre_poem"><p>"The Captain's Daughter," by James T. Fields (1816-81), carries weight with every young audience. It is pointed to an end that children love&mdash;viz., trust in a higher power.</p> </div> <table class="poem" summary="poem"><tr><td><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">We were crowded in the cabin,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Not a soul would dare to sleep,&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">It was midnight on the waters,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And a storm was on the deep.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">'Tis a fearful thing in winter<br/></span> <span class="i2">To be shattered by the blast,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And to hear the rattling trumpet<br/></span> <span class="i2">Thunder, "Cut away the mast!"<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">So we shuddered there in silence,&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i2">For the stoutest held his breath,<br/></span> <span class="i0">While the hungry sea was roaring<br/></span> <span class="i2">And the breakers talked with Death.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">As thus we sat in darkness,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Each one busy with his prayers,<br/></span> <span class="i0">"We are lost!" the captain shouted<br/></span> <span class="i2">As he staggered down the stairs.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">But his little daughter whispered,<br/></span> <span class="i2">As she took his icy hand,<br/></span> <span class="i0">"Isn't God upon the ocean,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Just the same as on the land?"<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Then we kissed the little maiden.<br/></span> <span class="i2">And we spoke in better cheer,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And we anchored safe in harbour<br/></span> <span class="i2">When the morn was shining clear.<br/></span></div> </td></tr></table> <p class="quotsig"><span class="smcap">James T. Fields.</span></p> <p class="above">["The 'village smithy' stood in Brattle Street, Cambridge. There came a time when the chestnut-tree that shaded it was cut down, and then the children of the place put their pence together and had a chair made for the poet from its wood."]</p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />