Vitai Lampada / Henry Newbolt

Vitaï Lampada is a poem written by Sir Henry Newbolt in 1892.

Vitaï Lampada
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!'

About
"Vitaï Lampada" is probably the best known of all Newbolt's poems, and for which he is now chiefly remembered.

The title is taken from a quotation by Lucretius and means "They pass on the torch of life". It refers to how a schoolboy, a future soldier, learns selfless commitment to duty in cricket matches in the famous Close at Clifton College:

The engagement mentioned in verse two is the Battle of Abu Klea in Sudan in January 1885 during the unsuccessful expedition to rescue General Gordon.

The poem was both highly regarded and repeatedly satirised by those who experienced World War I.

Newbolt eventually came to dislike the poem. After a 1923 tour of Canada, during which he was constantly called on to recite it, he complained that it was "a kind of Frankenstein's Monster that I created thirty years ago."