By Castle and River: The Wallace Monument

The Brook

By: Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)

I come from haunts of coot and hern,
I make a sudden sally,
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.

By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorps, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.

Till last by Philip's farm I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,
I babble on the pebbles.

With many a curve my banks I fret
by many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy foreland set
With willow-weed and mallow.

I chatter, chatter, as I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

I wind about, and in and out,
with here a blossom sailing,
And here and there a lusty trout,
And here and there a grayling,

And here and there a foamy flake
Upon me, as I travel
With many a silver water-break
Above the golden gravel,

And draw them all along, and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
I slide by hazel covers;
I move the sweet forget-me-nots
That grow for happy lovers.

I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
Among my skimming swallows;
I make the netted sunbeam dance
Against my sandy shallows.

I murmur under moon and stars
In brambly wildernesses;
I linger by my shingly bars;
I loiter round my cresses;

And out again I curve and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

The Wallace Monument

The thing that really started this interest of mine for William Wallace was when my dear uncle told me about the Wallace Monument, which he described as looking "like something out of The Two Towers." I was intrigued and determined to learn more. This led to these four posts on William Wallace.

The National Wallace Monument (generally just known as the Wallace Monument) is a tower standing on the summit of Abbey Craig, a hilltop near Stirling in Scotland, from which Sir William watched the English army gather on the south side of Stirling Bridge. How cool is that?

Both of these websites are absolutely great and have lots of information about the Monument:

http://www.instirling.com/sight/wallace.htm

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/stirling/wallace/

If I ever get to go to Scotland, and I hope that someday I may, I will do every thing in my power to make sure that I get to visit the Wallace Monument.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

The Wallace Monument

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