On came the foe, rushing foe,
As down they fell by hundreds.
‘Twas bravery held our men;
They knew they were outnumbered.

‘Hundreds’ and ‘outnumbered’; Tennyson could hardly have done better than that. But even Tennyson would not have tried to rhyme ‘steam and ‘submarine’, as the author of the following succeeded in doing:


Brave boys, put on steam;
Be ready at the guns, boys;
‘Tis a German submarine.


etc., etc...

Read The Bad War Poets<br>(Pathfinder Magazine, 1920) for Free

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