Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE FAMILY NAME, by CHARLES LAMB


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE FAMILY NAME, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What reason first imposed thee, gentle name
Last Line: No deed of mine shall shame thee, gentle name.
Alternate Author Name(s): Elia
Subject(s): Ancestors & Ancestry; Names; Heritage; Heredity


What reason first imposed thee, gentle name,
Name that my father bore, and his sire's sire,
Without reproach? we trace our stream no higher;
And I, a childless man, may end the same.
Perchance some shepherd on Lincolnian plains,
In manners guileless as his own sweet flocks,
Received thee first amid the merry mocks
And arch allusions of his fellow swains.
Perchance from Salem's holier fields returned,
With glory gotten on the heads abhorred
Of faithless Saracens, some martial lord
Took his meek title, in whose zeal he burned.
Whate'er the fount whence thy beginnings came,
No deed of mine shall shame thee, gentle name.





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