Vitai Lampada ("They Pass On The Torch of Life") [Sir Henry Newbolt (1862-1938)]

There's a breathless hush in the Close to-night --
Ten to make and the match to win --
A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
An hour to play and the last man in.
And it's not for the sake of a ribboned coat,
Or the selfish hope of a season's fame,
But his Captain's hand on his shoulder smote --
'Play up! play up! and play the game!'

The sand of the desert is sodden red, --
Red with the wreck of a square that broke; --
The Gatling's jammed and the Colonel dead,
And the regiment blind with dust and smoke.
The river of death has brimmed his banks,
And England's far, and Honour a name,
But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks:
'Play up! play up! and play the game!'

This is the word that year by year,
While in her place the School is set,
Every one of her sons must hear,
And none that hears it dare forget.
This they all with a joyful mind
Bear through life like a torch in flame,
And falling fling to the host behind --
'Play up! play up! and play the game!'

Hard to imagine a more unfashionable poem, eh? It expresses the sentiment, attributed (falsely?) to the Duke of Wellington, that “The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.” Although, in the case of Henry Newbolt the Close is at his alma mater, Clifton College. And it is compared often to Kipling’s If and Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade. Meanwhile, the obvious contrast is to Wilfred Owen’s Dulce Et Decorum Est. The latter is largely a function of the way patriotism and a sense of British obligation were slaughtered in Flanders fields, along with nearly a million soldiers.

Perhaps we are better for our understanding that there is ultimately nothing game-like about warfare, particularly when fought with modern mass-murdering methods and armaments. But it is worth recalling that it was not WWI that was the first modern war but the American Civil War and then the Boer War. Indeed, for my money the most effective response to Newbolt came from Breaker Morant (see this review) and the fact that war seldom abides by any rules that the players can enforce.

But I’m sufficiently traditional and sentimental enough to share Newbolt’s faith that the best training for young men (and women)lies in youthful sportsmanship: 'Play up! play up! and play the game!'

(Reviewed:30-Jul-24)

Grade: (A+) Orrin C. Judd

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Henry Newbolt Links:

    -WIKIPEDIA: Henry Newbolt
    -ENTRY: Prose & Poetry - Sir Henry Newbolt (FirstWorldWar.com)
    -ENTRY: Sir Henry Newbolt British poet (Encylopaedia Britannica)
    -ENTRY: Sir Henry Newbolt, CH (1862 – 1938) (War Poets Association)
    -ENTRY: Sir Henry Newbolt (EnglishVerse.com)
    -ENTRY: Sir Henry Newbolt (FamousPoetsAndPoems.com)
    -ENTRY: Sir Henry Newbolt (London Remembers)
    -INDEX: Henry Newbolt (Lapham’s Quarterly)
    -INDEX: Henry Newbolt (The Atlantic)
    -INDEX: Henry Newbolt (Best Poems Encyclopedia)
    -INDEX: Sir Henry Newbolt (Poem Hunter)
    -INDEX: Sir Henry Newpolt (My Poetic Side)
    -INDEX: Henry Newbolt (Poetry Foundation)
    -INDEX: Sir Henry Newbolt (All Poetry)
    -INDEX: Sire Henry Newbolt (LibriVox)
    -INDEX: Henry Newbolt (Internet Archive)
    -INDEX: Henry Newbolt (Project Gutenberg)
    -POEM: Vitai Lampada ("They Pass On The Torch of Life") (Henry Newbolt)
    -AUDIO: Henry Newbolt Reading his Own Poems - Vitaï Lampada & 3 Other Poems
    -AUDIO: Admirals All (LibriVox)
    -VIDEO: "Vitaï Lampada", an Illustrated Reading (Sp[ortingBritannia)
    -POEM: Drake’s Drum (Henry Newbolt)
    -POEM: The War Film (Henry Newbolt)
    -STUDY GUIDE: Vitaï Lampada by Henry Newbolt (Poem Analysis)
    -STUDY GUIDE: Vitaï Lampada by Henry Newbolt (Think Lit: MINI SERIES: GCSE CONFLICT POETRY)
    -STUDY GUIDE: Meaning of "play up" in Henry Newbolt's poem "Vitai Lampada" (English Language Learners)
    -STUDY GUIDE: Vitai Lampada (Quizlet)
    -STUDY GUIDE: “vitai lampada tradunt” (Latin Is Easy)
    -STUDY GUIDE: The Charge of the Light Brigade - CCEA: Writing a response (BBC: Bitesize)
    -ESSAY: The Haunting Beauty and Relevance of Vitai Lampada: Written in 1892 by Henry Newbolt, the poem ‘Vitai Lampada’ (“The Torch of Life”) includes the memorable phrase, “Play up! play up! and play the game!’. These final words are perhaps one of the real gifts of British culture to the world… (Samuel Lister, Historic uk)
    -ESSAY: Homo Newboltiensis (John Dabell, August 1, 2019)
    -ESSAY: Sir Henry Newbolt's "Vitaï Lampada" (John Derbyshire)
    -CHAPTER: Chapter Five. The Public Poet and the Spirit of the Moment (Vanessa Furse Jackson, The Poetry of Henry Newbolt)
    -ESSAY: "Vitai Lampada": Preserving the Elite (KEITH M. MACDONALD, Winter 1988, Armed Forces & Society)
    -ESSAY: Remembering Sir Henry Newbolt: An Essay and Bibliography (Michael Bright, 1990, English Literature in Transition)
    -CHAPTER: 1 Henry Newbolt: ‘This Sceptred Isle’ (Kenneth Millard, November 1991, Edwardian Poetry)
    -ESSAY: Henry Newbolt and Cricket (Discover War Poets)
    -ESSAY: Sir Henry Newbolt's "Drake's Drum" (John Derbyshire)
    -ESSAY: The constrained poetry of sport (Marian Christie Poetry, 5/15/24) -
    -REVIEW: of Playing the Game: Selected Poems of Henry Newbolt edited by John Howlett (Liverpool University Press Blog)
    -REVIEW: of Vitai Lampada (Nigeness)
    -REVIEW: of Vitai Lampada (kgsimpson, Live Journal)
    -REVIEW: of Vitai Lampada (Rajithamyblog's Blog)
    -REVIEW: of Vitai Lampada (My Word in Your Ear
    -REVIEW: of Vitai Lampada (Wondering Minstrels)

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