Back to the Army Again, refrain (1894).
The Seven Seas (1896)
“Most armies are in fact run by their sergeants”
the officers are there just to give things a bit of tone and prevent warfare from becoming a mere lower-class brawl.
The Carpet People (1971; 1992)
The Indian Serenade (1819), st. 3
Sergeant Barret and Major Richard Sharpe, p. 273
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Honor (1985)
Last e-mail to parents (2009)
Sergeant Williams and Lieutenant Richard Sharpe, p. 40
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Rifles (1988)
“O lost,
And by the wind grieved,
Ghost,
Come back again.”
Source: Look Homeward, Angel (1929), p. 3
Context: A stone, a leaf, an unfound door; of a stone, a leaf, a door. And of all the forgotten faces. Naked and alone we came into exile. In her dark womb we did not know our mother's face; from the prison of her flesh we come into the unspeakable and incommunicable prison of this earth. Which of us has known his brother? Which of us has looked into his father's heart? Which of us has not remained forever prison-pent? Which of us is not forever a stranger and alone? O waste of loss, in the hot mazes, lost, among bright stars on this most weary unbright cinder, lost! Remembering speechlessly we seek the great forgotten language, the lost lane-end into heaven, a stone, a leaf, an unfound door. Where? When? O lost, and by the wind grieved, ghost, come back again.
“Thou dost but court cold rain, till rain turns fire.”
"The Rainbow".
Silex Scintillans (1655)
Context: I will on thee as on a comet look,
A comet, the sad world's ill-boding book;
Thy light as luctual and stain'd with woes
I'll judge, where penal flames sit mixt and close.
But though some think thou shin'st but to restrain
Bold storms, and simply dost attend on rain;
Yet I know well, and so our sins require,
Thou dost but court cold rain, till rain turns fire.
Source: The Red Badge of Courage (1895), Ch. 1 First lines.
Context: The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting. As the landscape changed from brown to green, the army awakened, and began to tremble with eagerness at the noise of rumors.
