Canto I LXXVI
In costly sheen and gaudy cloak arrayed,But all afoot, the light-limbed matadoreStands in the centre, eager to invadeThe lord of lowing herds; but not beforeThe ground, with cautious tread, is traversed o'er,Lest aught unseen should lurk to thwart his speed:His arms a dart, he fights aloof, nor moreCan man achieve without the friendly steed--Alas! too oft condemned for him to bear and bleed.
Thrice sounds the clarion; lo! the signal falls,The den expands, and expectation muteGapes round the silent circle's peopled walls.Bounds with one lashing spring the mighty brute,And wildly staring, spurns, with sounding foot,The sand, nor blindly rushes on his foe:Here, there, he points his threatening front, to suitHis first attack, wide waving to and froHis angry tail; red rolls his eye's dilated glow.
Sudden he stops; his eye is fixed: away,Away, thou heedless boy! prepare the spear;Now is thy time to perish, or displayThe skill that yet may check his mad career.With well-timed croupe the nimble coursers veer;On foams the bull, but not unscathed he goes;Streams from his flank the crimson torrent clear:He flies, he wheels, distracted with his throes:Dart follows dart; lance, lance; loud bellowings speak his woes.
Words in this poem
- sheen v. i.
- To shine; to glisten.
- matadore n.
- The killer; the man appointed to kill the bull in bullfights. [Sp. matador, prop., a killer, fr. matar to kill, L. mactare to sacrifice, kill.]
- centre v. i.
- To be placed in a center; to be central.
- lowing n.
- The calling sound made by cows and other bovine animals.
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- clarion n.
- A kind of trumpet, whose note is clear and shrill. [OE. clarioun, OF. clarion, F. clairon, LL. clario, claro; so called from its clear tone, fr. L. clarus clear. See Clear.]
- peopled a.
- Stocked with, or as with, people; inhabited.
- lashing n.
- The act of one who, or that which, lashes; castigation; chastisement. South. Lashing out, a striking out; also, extravagance.
- blindly adv.
- Without sight, discernment, or understanding; without thought, investigation, knowledge, or purpose of one's own.
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- career n.
- A race course: the ground run over. [F. carrière race course, high road, street, fr. L. carrus wagon. See Car.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto I LXXVI 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 LXXVI, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-i-lxxvi.html, id L06501.
Form and metre
Canto I LXXVI 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 92%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 30% 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 arrayedA · matadoreB · invadeA · beforeB · o'erB · speedC · moreB · steedC · bleedC
- 2 ABABBCBCC fallsA · muteB · wallsA · bruteB · footB · foeC · suitB · froC · glowC
- 3 ABABBCBCC awayA · spearB · displayA · careerB · veerB · goesC · clearB · throesC · woesC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In costly sheen and gaudy cloak arrayed, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| But all afoot, the light-limbed matadore | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Stands in the centre, eager to invade | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The lord of lowing herds; but not before | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The ground, with cautious tread, is traversed o'er, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Lest aught unseen should lurk to thwart his speed: | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| His arms a dart, he fights aloof, nor more | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Can man achieve without the friendly steed-- | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Alas! too oft condemned for him to bear and bleed. | 12 | ˘/··˘/······ |
| Thrice sounds the clarion; lo! the signal falls, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The den expands, and expectation mute | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Gapes round the silent circle's peopled walls. | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Bounds with one lashing spring the mighty brute, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And wildly staring, spurns, with sounding foot, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| The sand, nor blindly rushes on his foe: | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Here, there, he points his threatening front, to suit | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| His first attack, wide waving to and fro | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| His angry tail; red rolls his eye's dilated glow. | 12 | ·/˘·····˘/˘· |
| Sudden he stops; his eye is fixed: away, | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| Away, thou heedless boy! prepare the spear; | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘/·· |
| Now is thy time to perish, or display | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| The skill that yet may check his mad career. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| With well-timed croupe the nimble coursers veer; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| On foams the bull, but not unscathed he goes; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Streams from his flank the crimson torrent clear: | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| He flies, he wheels, distracted with his throes: | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Dart follows dart; lance, lance; loud bellowings speak his woes. | 12 | ·/˘····/˘··· |
Notes from the edition 1
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 3, line 5 "The croupe is a particular leap taught in the manege."--[MS.] [Croupe, or croup, denotes the hind quarters of a horse. Compare Scott's ballad of "Young Lochinvar"--"So light to the croupe the fair lady he swung." Here it is used for "croupade," "a high curvet in which the hind legs are brought up under the belly of the horse" (N. Eng. Dict., art. "Croupade.")]
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