Canto II XCVI
For thee, who thus in too protracted songHath soothed thine idlesse with inglorious lays,Soon shall thy voice be lost amid the throngOf louder minstrels in these later days:To such resign the strife for fading bays--Ill may such contest now the spirit moveWhich heeds nor keen reproach nor partial praise,Since cold each kinder heart that might approve,And none are left to please where none are left to love.
Thou too art gone, thou loved and lovely one!Whom youth and youth's affections bound to me;Who did for me what none beside have done,Nor shrank from one albeit unworthy thee.What is my being? thou hast ceased to be!Nor stayed to welcome here thy wanderer home,Who mourns o'er hours which we no more shall see--Would they had never been, or were to come!Would he had ne'er returned to find fresh cause to roam!
Oh! ever loving, lovely, and beloved!How selfish Sorrow ponders on the past,And clings to thoughts now better far removed!But Time shall tear thy shadow from me last.All thou couldst have of mine, stern Death, thou hast:The parent, friend, and now the more than friend;Ne'er yet for one thine arrows flew so fast,And grief with grief continuing still to blend,Hath snatched the little joy that life had yet to lend.
Words in this poem
- inglorious a.
- Not glorious; not bringing honor or glory; not accompanied with fame, honor, or celebrity; obscure; humble; as, an inglorious life of ease. [L. inglorious; pref. in- not + gloria glory, fame: cf. F. inglorieux. See Glory.]
- 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,]
- amid 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]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- albeit conj.
- Even though; although; notwithstanding. [OE. al be although it be, where al is our all. Cf. Although.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- stayed a.
- Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto II XCVI 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 XCVI, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-ii-xcvi.html, id L06537.
Form and metre
Canto II XCVI 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 91%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 11% 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 songA · laysB · throngA · daysB · baysB · moveC · praiseB · approveC · loveC
- 2 ABABBCBCC oneA · meB · doneA · theeB · beB · homeC · seeB · comeC · roamC
- 3 ABABBCBCC belovedA · pastB · removedA · lastB · hastB · friendC · fastB · blendC · lendC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| For thee, who thus in too protracted song | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Hath soothed thine idlesse with inglorious lays, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Soon shall thy voice be lost amid the throng | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Of louder minstrels in these later days: | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| To such resign the strife for fading bays-- | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Ill may such contest now the spirit move | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Which heeds nor keen reproach nor partial praise, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Since cold each kinder heart that might approve, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And none are left to please where none are left to love. | 12 | ············ |
| Thou too art gone, thou loved and lovely one! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Whom youth and youth's affections bound to me; | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Who did for me what none beside have done, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Nor shrank from one albeit unworthy thee. | 11 | ····˘/˘˘/˘· |
| What is my being? thou hast ceased to be! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Nor stayed to welcome here thy wanderer home, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Who mourns o'er hours which we no more shall see-- | 10 | ···/······ |
| Would they had never been, or were to come! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Would he had ne'er returned to find fresh cause to roam! | 12 | ····˘/······ |
| Oh! ever loving, lovely, and beloved! | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| How selfish Sorrow ponders on the past, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| And clings to thoughts now better far removed! | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| But Time shall tear thy shadow from me last. | 10 | ·····/···· |
| All thou couldst have of mine, stern Death, thou hast: | 10 | ·········· |
| The parent, friend, and now the more than friend; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Ne'er yet for one thine arrows flew so fast, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And grief with grief continuing still to blend, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Hath snatched the little joy that life had yet to lend. | 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 9 "To Mr. Dallas. The 'he' refers to 'Wanderer' and anything is better than I I I I always I. Yours, BYRON." [4th Revise B.M.]
- Stanza 3, line 7 [Compare Young's Night Thoughts ("The Complaint," Night i.). Vide ante, p. 95.]
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