Canto I LV
And must they fall--the young, the proud, the brave--To swell one bloated chief's unwholesome reign?No step between submission and a grave?The rise of rapine and the fall of Spain?And doth the Power that man adores ordainTheir doom, nor heed the suppliant's appeal?Is all that desperate Valour acts in vain?And Counsel sage, and patriotic Zeal,The veteran's skill, youth's fire, and manhood's heart of steel?
Is it for this the Spanish maid, aroused,Hangs on the willow her unstrung guitar,And, all unsexed, the anlace hath espoused,Sung the loud song, and dared the deed of war?And she, whom once the semblance of a scarAppalled, an owlet's larum chilled with dread,Now views the column-scattering bayonet jar,The falchion flash, and o'er the yet warm deadStalks with Minerva's step where Mars might quake to tread.
Ye who shall marvel when you hear her tale,Oh! had you known her in her softer hour,Marked her black eye that mocks her coal-black veil,Heard her light, lively tones in lady's bower,Seen her long locks that foil the painter's power,Her fairy form, with more than female grace,Scarce would you deem that Saragoza's towerBeheld her smile in Danger's Gorgon face,Thin the closed ranks, and lead in Glory's fearful chase.
Words in this poem
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- anlace n.
- A broad dagger formerly worn at the girdle. [Origin unknown.]
- larum
- , See Alarum, and Alarm.
- chilled a.
- Hardened on the surface or edge by chilling; as, chilled iron; a chilled wheel.
- falchion n.
- A broad-bladed sword, slightly curved, shorter and lighter than the ordinary sword; -- used in the Middle Ages. [OE. fauchon, OF. fauchon, LL. fälcio, fr. L. falx, falcis, a sickle, cf. Gr. falcon; cf. It. falcione. Cf. Defalcation.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto I LV is in the public domain. This text is taken from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Project Gutenberg ebook #5131; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Lord Byron, Canto I LV, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-i-lv.html, id L06494.
Form and metre
Canto I LV is 27 lines in 3 stanzas of 9 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABBCBCC, the Spenserian stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 15% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in the Spenserian stanza, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABBCBCC braveA · reignB · graveA · spainB · ordainB · appealC · vainB · zealC · steelC
- 2 ABABBCBCC arousedA · guitarB · espousedA · warB · scarB · dreadC · jarB · deadC · treadC
- 3 ABABBCBCC taleA · hourB · veilA · bowerB · powerB · graceC · towerB · faceC · chaseC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| And must they fall--the young, the proud, the brave-- | 10 | ·········· |
| To swell one bloated chief's unwholesome reign? | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| No step between submission and a grave? | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| The rise of rapine and the fall of Spain? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And doth the Power that man adores ordain | 10 | ···/··˘/˘/ |
| Their doom, nor heed the suppliant's appeal? | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Is all that desperate Valour acts in vain? | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And Counsel sage, and patriotic Zeal, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| The veteran's skill, youth's fire, and manhood's heart of steel? | 12 | ·/˘··/·/···· |
| Is it for this the Spanish maid, aroused, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Hangs on the willow her unstrung guitar, | 10 | ···/····˘/ |
| And, all unsexed, the anlace hath espoused, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Sung the loud song, and dared the deed of war? | 10 | ·········· |
| And she, whom once the semblance of a scar | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Appalled, an owlet's larum chilled with dread, | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Now views the column-scattering bayonet jar, | 11 | ···/˘/˘/˘·· |
| The falchion flash, and o'er the yet warm dead | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Stalks with Minerva's step where Mars might quake to tread. | 12 | ··˘/˘······· |
| Ye who shall marvel when you hear her tale, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Oh! had you known her in her softer hour, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Marked her black eye that mocks her coal-black veil, | 10 | ·········· |
| Heard her light, lively tones in lady's bower, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Seen her long locks that foil the painter's power, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Her fairy form, with more than female grace, | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| Scarce would you deem that Saragoza's tower | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Beheld her smile in Danger's Gorgon face, | 10 | ˘/···/˘/˘· |
| Thin the closed ranks, and lead in Glory's fearful chase. | 12 | ·······/˘/˘· |
Notes from the edition 3
E. H. Coleridge's notes to Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, The Works of Lord Byron, Poetry vol. II (John Murray, 1899; Project Gutenberg #25340). Bracketed passages are the editor's; unbracketed are Byron's own (Cantos I-III) or John Cam Hobhouse's (Canto IV, his 'Historical Notes'). Digit footnotes ('[17]') are informational and numbered continuously through the whole book; end-notes keyed '[n.B.]' (Byron) or '[n.H.]' (Hobhouse) follow each canto and are numbered afresh from 1 there. Both kinds are placed here by matching each note's own quoted words against the site's text, not by the number or stanza the note states, because the site's text (Gutenberg #5131) and this edition (#25340) are different editions with different stanza counts in Canto I. Lettered footnotes ('[h]', '[dn]') are manuscript and edition variant readings and are not harvested, matching the treatment of Don Juan's and byron-works-3's lettered notes.
- Stanza 1, line 2 [As time went on, Byron's sentiments with regard to Napoleon underwent a change, and he hesitates between sympathetic admiration and reluctant disapproval. At the moment his enthusiasm was roused by Spain's heroic resistance to the new Alaric, "the scourger of the world," and he expresses himself like Southey "or another" (vide post, Canto III., pp. 238, 239).]
- Stanza 2, line 3 ["A short two-edged knife or dagger ... formerly worn at the girdle" (N. Eng. Dict., art. "Anlace"). The "anlace" of the Spanish heroines was the national weapon, the punal, or cuchillo, which was sometimes stuck in the sash (Handbook for Spain, ii. 803).]
- Stanza 2, line 6 [Compare Macbeth, act v. sc. 5, line 10--
"The Time has been, my senses would have cooled To hear a night-shriek."]
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.