Canto II XXVII
To sit on rocks, to muse o'er flood and fell,To slowly trace the forest's shady scene,Where things that own not man's dominion dwell,And mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely been;To climb the trackless mountain all unseen,With the wild flock that never needs a fold;Alone o'er steeps and foaming falls to lean:This is not solitude; 'tis but to holdConverse with Nature's charms, and view her stores unrolled.
But midst the crowd, the hum, the shock of men,To hear, to see, to feel, and to possess,And roam along, the world's tired denizen,With none who bless us, none whom we can bless;Minions of splendour shrinking from distress!None that, with kindred consciousness endued,If we were not, would seem to smile the lessOf all that flattered, followed, sought, and sued:This is to be alone; this, this is solitude!
More blest the life of godly eremite,Such as on lonely Athos may be seen,Watching at eve upon the giant height,Which looks o'er waves so blue, skies so serene,That he who there at such an hour hath been,Will wistful linger on that hallowed spot;Then slowly tear him from the witching scene,Sigh forth one wish that such had been his lot,Then turn to hate a world he had almost forgot.
Words in this poem
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- trackless a.
- Having no track; marked by no footsteps; untrodden; as, a trackless desert.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
- wistful a.
- Longing; wishful; desirous. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.]
- witching a.
- That witches or enchants; suited to enchantment or witchcraft; bewitching.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto II XXVII 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 XXVII, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-ii-xxvii.html, id L06514.
Form and metre
Canto II XXVII 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%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% 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 fellA · sceneB · dwellA · beenB · unseenB · foldC · leanB · holdC · unrolledC
- 2 ABABBCBCC menA · possessB · denizenA · blessB · distressB · enduedC · lessB · suedC · solitudeC
- 3 ABABBCBCC eremiteA · seenB · heightA · sereneB · beenB · spotC · sceneB · lotC · forgotC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| To sit on rocks, to muse o'er flood and fell, | 10 | ·········· |
| To slowly trace the forest's shady scene, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Where things that own not man's dominion dwell, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely been; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| To climb the trackless mountain all unseen, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| With the wild flock that never needs a fold; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Alone o'er steeps and foaming falls to lean: | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| This is not solitude; 'tis but to hold | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Converse with Nature's charms, and view her stores unrolled. | 12 | ˘/·/˘······· |
| But midst the crowd, the hum, the shock of men, | 10 | ·········· |
| To hear, to see, to feel, and to possess, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And roam along, the world's tired denizen, | 11 | ··˘/··/˘/˘˘ |
| With none who bless us, none whom we can bless; | 10 | ·········· |
| Minions of splendour shrinking from distress! | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| None that, with kindred consciousness endued, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| If we were not, would seem to smile the less | 10 | ·········· |
| Of all that flattered, followed, sought, and sued: | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| This is to be alone; this, this is solitude! | 12 | ····˘/···/˘· |
| More blest the life of godly eremite, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Such as on lonely Athos may be seen, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Watching at eve upon the giant height, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Which looks o'er waves so blue, skies so serene, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| That he who there at such an hour hath been, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Will wistful linger on that hallowed spot; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Then slowly tear him from the witching scene, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Sigh forth one wish that such had been his lot, | 10 | ·········· |
| Then turn to hate a world he had almost forgot. | 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 2, line 5 [There are none to bless us, for when we are in distress the great, the rich, the gay, shrink from us; and when we are popular and prosperous those who court us care nothing for us apart from our success. Neither do they bless us, or we them.]
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