Canto II LXIII
Here woman's voice is never heard: apartAnd scarce permitted, guarded, veiled, to move,She yields to one her person and her heart,Tamed to her cage, nor feels a wish to rove;For, not unhappy in her master's love,And joyful in a mother's gentlest cares,Blest cares! all other feelings far above!Herself more sweetly rears the babe she bears,Who never quits the breast, no meaner passion shares.
In marble-paved pavilion, where a springOf living water from the centre rose,Whose bubbling did a genial freshness fling,And soft voluptuous couches breathed repose,Ali reclined, a man of war and woes:Yet in his lineaments ye cannot trace,While Gentleness her milder radiance throwsAlong that aged venerable face,The deeds that lurk beneath, and stain him with disgrace.
It is not that yon hoary lengthening beardIll suits the passions which belong to youth:Love conquers age--so Hafiz hath averred,So sings the Teian, and he sings in sooth--But crimes that scorn the tender voice of ruth,Beseeming all men ill, but most the manIn years, have marked him with a tiger's tooth:Blood follows blood, and through their mortal span,In bloodier acts conclude those who with blood began.
Words in this poem
- 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]
- veiled a.
- Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden.
- babe n.
- An infant; a young child of either sex; a baby. [Cf. Ir. bab, baban, W. baban, maban.]
- pavilion n.
- A temporary movable habitation; a large tent; a marquee; esp., a tent raised on posts. [F. pavillon, fr. L. pavilio a butterfly, also, a tent, because spread out like a butterfly's wings.]
- centre v. i.
- To be placed in a center; to be central.
- genial a.
- Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive. [L. genialis: cf. OF. genial. See Genius.]
- reclined a.
- Falling or turned downward; reclinate.
- hoary a.
- White or whitish."The hoary willows."
- sooth a.
- True; faithful; trustworthy. [OE. soth, AS. s, for san; akin to OS. s, OHG. sand, Icel. sannr, Sw. sann, Dan. sand, Skr. sat, sant, real, genuine, present, being; properly p. pr. from a root]
- ruth n.
- Sorrow for the misery of another; pity; tenderness. [From Rue, v.: cf. Icel. hryggedh, hrygedh.]
- beseeming n.
- Appearance; look; garb.
- conclude v. t.
- To shut up; to inclose. [L. concludere, conclusum; con- + claudere to shut. See Close, v. t.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto II LXIII 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 LXIII, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-ii-lxiii.html, id L06526.
Form and metre
Canto II LXIII 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 87%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends 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 apartA · moveB · heartA · roveB · loveB · caresC · aboveB · bearsC · sharesC
- 2 ABABBCBCC springA · roseB · flingA · reposeB · woesB · traceC · throwsB · faceC · disgraceC
- 3 ABABBCBCC beardA · youthB · averredA · soothB · ruthB · manC · toothB · spanC · beganC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Here woman's voice is never heard: apart | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| And scarce permitted, guarded, veiled, to move, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| She yields to one her person and her heart, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Tamed to her cage, nor feels a wish to rove; | 10 | ·········· |
| For, not unhappy in her master's love, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| And joyful in a mother's gentlest cares, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Blest cares! all other feelings far above! | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Herself more sweetly rears the babe she bears, | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| Who never quits the breast, no meaner passion shares. | 11 | ·/····/˘/˘· |
| In marble-paved pavilion, where a spring | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Of living water from the centre rose, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Whose bubbling did a genial freshness fling, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| And soft voluptuous couches breathed repose, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Ali reclined, a man of war and woes: | 10 | /˘˘/······ |
| Yet in his lineaments ye cannot trace, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| While Gentleness her milder radiance throws | 10 | ·/˘˘·//˘˘· |
| Along that aged venerable face, | 9 | ˘/··/˘˘˘· |
| The deeds that lurk beneath, and stain him with disgrace. | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| It is not that yon hoary lengthening beard | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Ill suits the passions which belong to youth: | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Love conquers age--so Hafiz hath averred, | 10 | ·/˘·····/˘ |
| So sings the Teian, and he sings in sooth-- | 9 | ········· |
| But crimes that scorn the tender voice of ruth, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Beseeming all men ill, but most the man | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| In years, have marked him with a tiger's tooth: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Blood follows blood, and through their mortal span, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| In bloodier acts conclude those who with blood began. | 12 | ·/˘·˘/····˘/ |
Notes from the edition 5
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 5 [For an account of Ali Pasha (1741-1822), see Letters, 1898, i. 246, note.]
- Stanza 2, line 7 [In a letter to his mother, November 12, 1809, Byron writes, "He [Ali] said he was certain I was a man of birth, because I had small ears, curling hair, and little white hands. ... He told me to consider him as a father whilst I was in Turkey, and said he looked on me as his son. Indeed, he treated me like a child, sending me almonds and sugared sherbet, fruit and sweetmeats, twenty times a day." Many years after, in the first letter On Bowles' Strictures, February 7, 1821, he introduces a reminiscence of Ali: "I never judge from manners, for I once had my pocket picked by the civillest gentleman I ever met with; and one of the mildest persons I ever saw was Ali Pasha" (Life, p. 689).]
- Stanza 3, line 4 [Anacreon sometimes bewails, but more often defies old age. (Vide Carmina liv., xi., xxxiv.)
The paraphrase "Teian Muse" recurs in the song, "The Isles of Greece," Don Juan, Canto III.] - Stanza 3, line 5 [In the first edition the reading (see var. ii.) is, "But crimes, those ne'er forgotten crimes of ruth." The mistake was pointed out in the Quarterly Review (March, 1812, No. 13, vol. vii. p. 193).
But in Spenser "ruth" means sorrow as well as pity, and three weeks after Childe Harold was published, Ali committed a terrible crime, the outcome of an early grief. On March 27, 1812, in revenge for wrongs done to his mother and sister nearly thirty years before, he caused 670 Gardhikiots to be massacred in the khan of Valiare, and followed up the act of treachery by sacking, plundering, and burning the town of Gardiki, and, "in direct violation of the Mohammedan law," carrying off and reducing to slavery the women and children.--Finlay's Hist. of Greece (edited by Rev. H. F. Tozer, 1877), vi. 67, 68.] - Stanza 3, line 9 [This was prophetic. "On the 5th of February, 1822, a meeting took place between Ali and Mohammed Pasha.... When Mohammed rose to depart, the two viziers, being of equal rank, moved together towards the door.... As they parted Ali bowed low to his visitor, and Mohammed, seizing the moment when the watchful eye of the old man was turned away, drew his hanjar, and plunged it in Ali's heart. He walked on calmly to the gallery, and said to the attendants, 'Ali of Tepalen is dead.' ... The head of Ali was exposed at the gate of the serai."--Finlay's Hist. of Greece, 1877, vi. 94, 95.]
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