Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Technology, Military Technology, Internationalism, War

    Describes the opening of the International Exhibition, with special reference to the crowds outside the building, the 'Clearing of the Nave' of the building, the 'Procession' of dignitaries, and exhibition commissioners, jurors, and other protagonists including the exhibition's architects Francis Fowke and Henry Cole. The final stanza describes the 'Unexpected Appearance' at the exhibition—namely, the allegorical figure of Peace, sitting on an Armstrong gun. She looks sad and laments the fact that the gun should be her 'vehicle'. She also laments that in the decade since the opening of the Great Exhibition her cause has been shattered in Europe, since 'huge steam-hammers rise and fall, / To forge the great ship's armour-wall' and other armaments threaten her. She ends by resolving to stay at home.

See also:

PU1/42/17/4