| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| The Hero |
| | | Sir Henry Taylor (1800–86) |
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| WHAT makes a hero?—not success, not fame, | |
| Inebriate merchants, and the loud acclaim | |
| Of glutted Avarice,—caps toss’d up in air, | |
| Or pen of journalist with flourish fair; | |
| Bells peal’d, stars, ribbons, and a titular name— | 5 |
| These, though his rightful tribute, he can spare; | |
| His rightful tribute, not his end or aim, | |
| Or true reward; for never yet did these | |
| Refresh the soul, or set the heart at ease. | |
| What makes a hero?—An heroic mind, | 10 |
| Express’d in action, in endurance prov’d. | |
| And if there be preeminence of right, | |
| Deriv’d through pain well suffer’d, to the height | |
| Of rank heroic, ’t is to bear unmov’d, | |
| Not toil, not risk, not rage of sea or wind, | 15 |
| Not the brute fury of barbarians blind, | |
| But worse—ingratitude and poisonous darts, | |
| Launch’d by the country he had serv’d and lov’d: | |
| This, with a free, unclouded spirit pure, | |
| This, in the strength of silence to endure, | 20 |
| A dignity to noble deeds imparts | |
| Beyond the gauds and trappings of renown; | |
| This is the hero’s complement and crown; | |
| This miss’d, one struggle had been wanting still, | |
| One glorious triumph of the heroic will, | 25 |
| One self-approval in his heart of hearts. | |
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