1 March 2007 - forts of folly

Jay Scott : Daily Whale : archive : 2007 : 1 March 2007

A Word to Matthew Arnold

When the forts of folly fall,
Will the victors comprehend
How you tried to meet your end:
To scale or to defend the wall,
Or scale and then defend?

clue:

Charge once more, then, and be dumb!
Let the victors, when they come,
When the forts of folly fall,
Find thy body by the wall.
— Matthew Arnold, from the poem “The Last Word”

take oh take this clue away