Canto I XC
Flows there a tear of pity for the dead?Look o'er the ravage of the reeking plain:Look on the hands with female slaughter red;Then to the dogs resign the unburied slain,Then to the vulture let each corse remain;Albeit unworthy of the prey-bird's maw,Let their bleached bones, and blood's unbleaching stain,Long mark the battle-field with hideous awe:Thus only may our sons conceive the scenes we saw!
Nor yet, alas, the dreadful work is done;Fresh legions pour adown the Pyrenees:It deepens still, the work is scarce begun,Nor mortal eye the distant end foresees.Fall'n nations gaze on Spain: if freed, she freesMore than her fell Pizarros once enchained.Strange retribution! now Columbia's easeRepairs the wrongs that Quito's sons sustained,While o'er the parent clime prowls Murder unrestrained.
Not all the blood at Talavera shed,Not all the marvels of Barossa's fight,Not Albuera lavish of the dead,Have won for Spain her well-asserted right.When shall her Olive-Branch be free from blight?When shall she breathe her from the blushing toil?How many a doubtful day shall sink in night,Ere the Frank robber turn him from his spoil,And Freedom's stranger-tree grow native of the soil?
Words in this poem
- corse n.
- A living body or its bulk. [OF. cors, F. corps. See Corpse.]
- albeit conj.
- Even though; although; notwithstanding. [OE. al be although it be, where al is our all. Cf. Although.]
- bleached a.
- Whitened; make white.
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- adown adv.
- From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dune off the hill. See Down.]
- 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]
- clime n.
- A climate; a tract or region of the earth. See Climate. [L. clima. See Climate.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto I XC 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 XC, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-i-xc.html, id L26203.
Form and metre
Canto I XC 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 90%).
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 deadA · plainB · redA · slainB · remainB · mawC · stainB · aweC · sawC
- 2 ABABBCBCC doneA · pyreneesB · begunA · foreseesB · freesB · enchainedC · easeB · sustainedC · unrestrainedC
- 3 ABABBCBCC shedA · fightB · deadA · rightB · blightB · toilC · nightB · spoilC · soilC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Flows there a tear of pity for the dead? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Look o'er the ravage of the reeking plain: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Look on the hands with female slaughter red; | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| Then to the dogs resign the unburied slain, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Then to the vulture let each corse remain; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Albeit unworthy of the prey-bird's maw, | 11 | ˘/˘˘/˘····· |
| Let their bleached bones, and blood's unbleaching stain, | 10 | ·········· |
| Long mark the battle-field with hideous awe: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Thus only may our sons conceive the scenes we saw! | 12 | ·/˘·/·˘/···· |
| Nor yet, alas, the dreadful work is done; | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Fresh legions pour adown the Pyrenees: | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘˘ |
| It deepens still, the work is scarce begun, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Nor mortal eye the distant end foresees. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Fall'n nations gaze on Spain: if freed, she frees | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| More than her fell Pizarros once enchained. | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Strange retribution! now Columbia's ease | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Repairs the wrongs that Quito's sons sustained, | 10 | ˘/···/˘·˘/ |
| While o'er the parent clime prowls Murder unrestrained. | 12 | ···/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Not all the blood at Talavera shed, | 10 | ·····˘˘/˘· |
| Not all the marvels of Barossa's fight, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Not Albuera lavish of the dead, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Have won for Spain her well-asserted right. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| When shall her Olive-Branch be free from blight? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| When shall she breathe her from the blushing toil? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| How many a doubtful day shall sink in night, | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| Ere the Frank robber turn him from his spoil, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And Freedom's stranger-tree grow native of the soil? | 12 | ·/˘/˘··/˘··· |
Notes from the edition 2
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 2, line 8 [Francisco Pizarro (1480-1541), with his brothers, Hernando, Juan Gonzalo, and his half-brother Martin de Alcantara, having revisited Spain, set sail for Panama in 1530. During his progress southward from Panama, he took the island of Puna, which formed part of the province of Quito. His defeat and treacherous capture of Atuahalpa, King of Quito, younger brother of Huascar the Supreme Inca, took place in 1532, near the town of Caxamarca, in Peno (Mod. Univ. History, 1763, xxxviii. 295, seq.). Spain's weakness during the Napoleonic invasion was the opportunity of her colonies. Quito, the capital of Ecuador, rose in rebellion, August 10, 1810, and during the same year Mexico and La Plata began their long struggle for independence.]
- Stanza 3, line 9 [During the American War of Independence (1775-83), and afterwards during the French Revolution, it was the custom to plant trees as "symbols of growing freedom." The French trees were decorated with "caps of Liberty." No such trees had ever been planted in Spain. (See note by the Rev. E.C. Everard Owen, Childe Harold, 1897, p. 158.)]
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