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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON THE BRITISH BLOCKADE, AND EXPECTED ATTACK ON NEW YORK - 1814 by PHILIP FRENEAU

Poet Analysis

First Line: OLD NEVERSINK, WITH BONNET BLUE
Last Line: AND COCKBURN MISS A HANDSOME PLUNDER.
Subject(s): NAVAL BLOCKADES; NAVY - UNITED STATES; NEW YORK CITY - WAR OF 1812; WAR OF 1812; AMERICAN NAVY;
Old Neversink, with bonnet blue,
The present times may surely rue
When told what England means to do.

Where from the deep his head he rears
The din of war salutes his ears,
That teased him not for thirty years.

With tents I see his mountain spread,
The soldier to the summit led,
And cannon planted on his head:

From Shrewsbury beach to Sandy Hook
The country has a martial look,
And Quakers skulk in every nook.—

What shall be done in such a case?—
We ask again with woeful face,
To save the trade and guard the place?

Where mounted guns the @3porte@1 secure,
The cannon at the embrasure,
Will British fleets attempt to moor?

Their feelings are alive and sore
For what they got at @3Baltimore,@1
When, with disgrace, they left the shore,

And will revenge it, if they can,
On town and country, maid and man—
And all they fear is @3Fulton's@1 plan;

Torpedoes planted in the deep,
Whose blast may put them all to sleep,
Or ghostify them at a sweep.

Another scheme, entirely new,
Is hammering on his anvil too,
That frightens Christian, Turk, and Jew.

A frigate meant to sail by steam!—
How can she else but torture them,
Be proof to all their fire and flame.

A feast she cooks for England's sons
Of scalded heads and broken bones
Discharged from iron-hearted guns.

@3Black Sam@1 himself, before he died,
Such suppers never did provide:—
Such dinners roasted, boil'd, and fry'd.

To make a brief of all I said—
If to @3attack@1 they change @3blockade@1
Their @3godships@1 will be well repaid

With water, scalding from the pot,
With melted lead and flaming shot,
With vollies of—I know not what,

The British lads will be so treated:
Their wooden walls will be so heated,
Their ruin will be soon completed.

Our citizens shall stare and wonder—
The @3Neversink@1 repel their thunder
And @3Cockburn@1 miss a handsome plunder.



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