Pomp and Circumstance Marches Tabley's poem "The March of Glory", which (as quoted by Elgar's biographer Basil Maine) begins <poem>Like a proud music that draws men on to die Madly upon the spears in martial ecstasy, A measure that sets heaven in all their veins And iron in their hands. I hear the Nation march Beneath her ensign as an eagle's wing; O'er shield and sheeted targe The banners of my faith most gaily swing; Moving to victory with solemn noise, With worship and with conquest, and the voice of myriads.</poem> proclaiming the "shows of things" (Maine's quotation marks): the naïve assumption that the
Pomp and Circumstance Marches modified form, for the "Land of hope and glory" section of his "Coronation Ode" for King Edward VII. The words were further modified to fit the original tune, and the result has since become a fixture at the Last Night of the Proms, and an English sporting anthem. In the United States, the "Trio" section "Land of Hope and Glory" of March No. 1 is often known simply as "Pomp and Circumstance" or as "The Graduation March" and is played as the at virtually all high school and some college graduation ceremonies. It was first played at such a ceremony