Canto II LVII
The sun had sunk behind vast Tomerit,The Laos wide and fierce came roaring by;The shades of wonted night were gathering yet,When, down the steep banks winding wearilyChilde Harold saw, like meteors in the sky,The glittering minarets of Tepalen,Whose walls o'erlook the stream; and drawing nigh,He heard the busy hum of warrior-menSwelling the breeze that sighed along the lengthening glen.
He passed the sacred harem's silent tower,And underneath the wide o'erarching gateSurveyed the dwelling of this chief of powerWhere all around proclaimed his high estate.Amidst no common pomp the despot sate,While busy preparation shook the court;Slaves, eunuchs, soldiers, guests, and santons wait;Within, a palace, and without a fort,Here men of every clime appear to make resort.
Richly caparisoned, a ready rowOf armed horse, and many a warlike store,Circled the wide-extending court below;Above, strange groups adorned the corridor;And ofttimes through the area's echoing door,Some high-capped Tartar spurred his steed away;The Turk, the Greek, the Albanian, and the Moor,Here mingled in their many-hued array,While the deep war-drum's sound announced the close of day.
Words in this poem
- wonted a.
- Accustomed; customary; usual.
- wearily adv.
- In a weary manner.
- childe n.
- A cognomen formerly prefixed to his name by the oldest son, until he succeeded to his ancestral titles, or was knighted; as, Childe Roland.
- amidst prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- sate v. t.
- To satisfy the desire or appetite of; to satiate; to glut; to surfeit. [Probably shortened fr. satiate: cf. L. satus full. See Satiate.]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- clime n.
- A climate; a tract or region of the earth. See Climate. [L. clima. See Climate.]
- circled a.
- Having the form of a circle; round.
- corridor n.
- A gallery or passageway leading to several apartments of a house. [F., fr. Itt. corridpore, or Sp. corredor; prop., a runner, hence, a running or long line, a gallery, fr. L. currere to run. See Course.]
- ofttimes adv.
- Frequently; often. [Oft + time. Cf. -wards.]
- 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.]
- turk n.
- A member of any of numerous Tartar tribes of Central Asia, etc.; esp., one of the dominant race in Turkey. [Per. Turk; probably of Tartar origin: cf. F. Turc.]
- albanian a.
- Of or pertaining to Albania, a province of Turkey.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto II LVII 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 II LVII, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-ii-lvii.html, id L06524.
Form and metre
Canto II LVII 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 85%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% 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 tomeritA · byB · yetA · wearilyB · skyB · tepalenC · nighB · menC · glenC
- 2 ABABBCBCC towerA · gateB · powerA · estateB · sateB · courtC · waitB · fortC · resortC
- 3 ABABBCBCC rowA · storeB · belowA · corridorB · doorB · awayC · moorB · arrayC · dayC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The sun had sunk behind vast Tomerit, | 10 | ·········· |
| The Laos wide and fierce came roaring by; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The shades of wonted night were gathering yet, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| When, down the steep banks winding wearily | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Childe Harold saw, like meteors in the sky, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The glittering minarets of Tepalen, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Whose walls o'erlook the stream; and drawing nigh, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| He heard the busy hum of warrior-men | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Swelling the breeze that sighed along the lengthening glen. | 12 | /˘····˘/·/˘· |
| He passed the sacred harem's silent tower, | 11 | ···/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| And underneath the wide o'erarching gate | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Surveyed the dwelling of this chief of power | 11 | ˘/·/˘····/˘ |
| Where all around proclaimed his high estate. | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| Amidst no common pomp the despot sate, | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| While busy preparation shook the court; | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Slaves, eunuchs, soldiers, guests, and santons wait; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Within, a palace, and without a fort, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Here men of every clime appear to make resort. | 12 | ···/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| Richly caparisoned, a ready row | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Of armed horse, and many a warlike store, | 10 | ····/˘·/·· |
| Circled the wide-extending court below; | 10 | /˘··˘/˘··· |
| Above, strange groups adorned the corridor; | 10 | ····˘/·/˘˘ |
| And ofttimes through the area's echoing door, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Some high-capped Tartar spurred his steed away; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The Turk, the Greek, the Albanian, and the Moor, | 11 | ·····˘/˘··· |
| Here mingled in their many-hued array, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| While the deep war-drum's sound announced the close of day. | 12 | ······˘/···· |
Notes from the edition 4
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 1 Anciently Mount Tomarus.
["Mount Tomerit, or Tomohr," says Mr. Tozer, "lies north-east of Tepalen, and therefore the sun could not set behind it" (Childe Harold, 1885, p. 272). But, writing to Drury, May 3, 1810, Byron says that "he penetrated as far as Mount Tomarit." Probably by "Tomarit" he does not mean Mount Tomohr, which lies to the north-east of Berat, but Mount Olytsika, ancient Tomaros (vide ante, p. 132, note 1), which lies to the west of Janina, between the valley of Tcharacovista and the sea. "Elle domine," writes M. Carapanos, "toutes les autres montagnes qui l'entourent." "Laos," Mr. Tozer thinks, "is a mere blunder for Aoeus, the Viosa (or Voioussa), which joins the Derapuli a few miles south of Tepaleni, and flows under the walls of the city" (Dodone et ses Ruines, 1878, p. 8). (For the Aoeus and approach to Tepeleni, see Travels in Albania, i. 91.)] - Stanza 1, line 2 The river Laos was full at the time the author passed it; and, immediately above Tepaleen, was to the eye as wide as the Thames at Westminster; at least in the opinion of the author and his fellow-traveller. In the summer it must be much narrower. It certainly is the finest river in the Levant; neither Achelous, Alpheus, Acheron, Scamander, nor Cayster, approached it in breadth or beauty.
- Stanza 1, line 5 ["During the fast of the Ramazan, ... the gallery of each minaret is decorated with a circlet of small lamps. When seen from a distance, each minaret presents a point of light, 'like meteors in the sky;' and in a large city, where they are numerous, they resemble a swarm of fireflies."--H.F. Tozer. (Compare The Giaour, i. 449-452--
"When Rhamazan's last sun was set, And flashing from each minaret. Millions of lamps proclaimed the feast Of Bairam through the boundless East.")] - Stanza 2, line 7 ["A kind of dervish or recluse ... regarded as a saint."--Cent. Dict., art. "Santon."]
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