A. H. Laidlaw Poetry Library

The poems of A.H. Laidlaw were originally published with a preface that makes these notes:

Excerpted Preface to Soldier Songs and Love Songs, 1898

In issuing this collection of Songs, the author makes the following acknowledgments:—

“The American Ça ira” was suggested while reading the French song of that name, from which song the phrase ça ira alone was appropriated.

In “The Song of William the Conqueror,” his characteristic oath, “By the splendor of God!” is used.

In the “Death Song of the Enfants Perdus,” a few remembered lines or fragments have been appropriated from an anonymous and almost forgotten English ballad.

“Burke of the Brave Brigade” was written in memory of the late Dennis F. Burke, the last commander of the Irish Brigade in the battle of Gettysburg.

“The Custer Wail” was composed in a dream, in 1877.

In the last two stanzas of “Marshall Ney’s Farewell,” his own language translated is used in nearly half the lines. The first line of this poem is the expression used by Napoleon, on his voyage to St. Helena, when sighting the shore of France for the last time.

“The Lily Land of France” was suggested by the French song, “Partant pour la Syrie,” from which nothing was appropriated but the accentual movement.