The Battle of Marathon: A Poem
The Battle of Marathon is a rhymed, dramatic, narrative poem by Elizabeth Barrett (later Browning). Written in 1820, when Barrett was aged 14, it retells powerfully the Battle of Marathon, during which the Athenian state defeated the much larger invading force during the first Persian invasion of Greece.
When
Miltiades, who overran the Persian army just landed upon their coasts, cutting their opponents down to the last man.[1]
Some of the Greeks' enemies are more than mortal; Aphrodite herself swears vengeance for the actions of their forebears in destroying her beloved Troy generations earlier.[2]
The poem is written in heroic couplet that is in iambic pentameter rhymed AABBCCDD...[3]
References
- ^ Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. London: Oxford University Press, 1908. pp. 5โ28.
- ^ Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. London: Oxford University Press, 1908. pp. 10โ11.
- ^ Mary Sanders Pollock, Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning: A Creative Partnership, London, 2016, p. 24.
External links
- The Battle of Marathon, full text at the Internet Archive
- The Battle of Marathon public domain audiobook at LibriVox