Lyric Poem · Peace
Cavalier Tunes
1Kentish Sir Byng stood for his King,
2Bidding the crop-headed Parliament swing:
3And, pressing a troop unable to stoop
4And see the rogues flourish and honest folk droop,
5Marched them along, fifty score strong,
6Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this song.
7God for King Charles! Pym and such carles
8To the Devil that prompts 'em their treasonous parles!
9Cavaliers, up! Lips from the cup,
10Hands from the pasty, nor bite take nor sup
11Till you're —
14Hampden to hell, and his obsequies knell.
15Serve Hazelrig, Fiennes, and young Harry as well!
16England, good cheer! Rupert is near!
17Kentish and loyalists, keep we not here,
20Then, God for King Charles! Pym and his snarls
21To the Devil that pricks on such pestilent carles!
22Hold by the right, you double your might;
23So, onward to Nottingham, fresh for the fight,
26King Charles, and who'll do him right now?
27King Charles, and who's ripe for fight now?
28Give a rouse; here's, in hell's despite now,
29King Charles!
30Who gave me the goods that went since?
31Who raised me the house that sank once?
32Who helped me to gold I spent since?
33Who found me in wine you drank once?
34 — King Charles, and who'll do him right now?
35 King Charles, and who's ripe for fight now?
36 Give a rouse; here's, in hell's despite now,
37 King Charles!
38To whom used my boy George quaff else,
39By the old fool's side that begot him?
40For whom did he cheer and laugh else,
41While Noll's damned troopers shot him?
42 — King Charles, and who'll do him right now?
43 King Charles, and who's ripe for fight now?
44 Give a rouse: here's, in hell's despite now,
45 King Charles!
46Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!
47Rescue my castle before the hot day
48Brightens to blue from its silvery gray,
49 — Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!
50Ride past the suburbs, asleep as you'd say;
51Many's the friend there, will listen and pray
52"God's luck to gallants that strike up the lay —
53 — Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!"
54Forty miles off, like a roebuck at bay,
55Flouts castle Brancepeth the Roundheads' array:
56Who laughs, "Good fellows ere this, by my fay,
57 — Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!"
58Who? My wife Gertrude; that, honest and gay,
59Laughs when you talk of surrendering, "Nay!
60I've better counsellors; what counsel they?
61 — Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!"
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“Cavalier Tunes” by Robert Browning — quilloak.com/poems/cavalier-tunes
Quick facts
- Poem
- Cavalier Tunes
- Poet
- Robert Browning
- Length
- 61 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Peace, Friendship
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 61 lines · 20 stanzas of 1–6 lines
- Line length
- Lines run 8-10 syllables (median 9). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
- Refrains
- “Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this song.”“— Marching along, fifty score strong,”“Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this song.”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Robert Browning1812–1889
- Source record
- PoetryDBCavalier Tunes by robert-browning, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 d914d1a99f5b3aaa…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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