Canto III CIII
All things are here of HIM; from the black pines,Which are his shade on high, and the loud roarOf torrents, where he listeneth, to the vinesWhich slope his green path downward to the shore,Where the bowed waters meet him, and adore,Kissing his feet with murmurs; and the wood,The covert of old trees, with trunks all hoar,But light leaves, young as joy, stands where it stood,Offering to him, and his, a populous solitude.
A populous solitude of bees and birds,And fairy-formed and many coloured things,Who worship him with notes more sweet than words,And innocently open their glad wings,Fearless and full of life: the gush of springs,And fall of lofty fountains, and the bendOf stirring branches, and the bud which bringsThe swiftest thought of beauty, here extend,Mingling, and made by Love, unto one mighty end.
He who hath loved not, here would learn that lore,And make his heart a spirit: he who knowsThat tender mystery, will love the more,For this is Love's recess, where vain men's woes,And the world's waste, have driven him far from those,For 'tis his nature to advance or die;He stands not still, but or decays, or growsInto a boundless blessing, which may vieWith the immortal lights, in its eternity!
Words in this poem
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
- hoar v. t.
- To become moldy or musty. [AS. harian to grow gray.]
- populous a.
- Abounding in people; full of inhabitants; containing many inhabitants in proportion to the extent of the country. [L. populosus, fr. populus people: cf. F. populeux.]
- coloured a.
- Having color; tinged; dyed; painted; stained.
- innocently adv.
- In an innocent manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto III CIII 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 III CIII, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iii-ciii.html, id L06573.
Form and metre
Canto III CIII 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 84%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 26% 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 pinesA · roarB · vinesA · shoreB · adoreB · woodC · hoarB · stoodC · solitudeC
- 2 ABABBCBCC birdsA · thingsB · wordsA · wingsB · springsB · bendC · bringsB · extendC · endC
- 3 ABABBCBCC loreA · knowsB · moreA · woesB · thoseB · dieC · growsB · vieC · eternityC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| All things are here of HIM; from the black pines, | 10 | ·········· |
| Which are his shade on high, and the loud roar | 10 | ·········· |
| Of torrents, where he listeneth, to the vines | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Which slope his green path downward to the shore, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Where the bowed waters meet him, and adore, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Kissing his feet with murmurs; and the wood, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| The covert of old trees, with trunks all hoar, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But light leaves, young as joy, stands where it stood, | 10 | ·········· |
| Offering to him, and his, a populous solitude. | 12 | /˘·····/˘/˘· |
| A populous solitude of bees and birds, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And fairy-formed and many coloured things, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Who worship him with notes more sweet than words, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And innocently open their glad wings, | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/˘··· |
| Fearless and full of life: the gush of springs, | 10 | /˘········ |
| And fall of lofty fountains, and the bend | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Of stirring branches, and the bud which brings | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| The swiftest thought of beauty, here extend, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Mingling, and made by Love, unto one mighty end. | 12 | /˘·······/˘· |
| He who hath loved not, here would learn that lore, | 10 | ·········· |
| And make his heart a spirit: he who knows | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That tender mystery, will love the more, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| For this is Love's recess, where vain men's woes, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And the world's waste, have driven him far from those, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| For 'tis his nature to advance or die; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| He stands not still, but or decays, or grows | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Into a boundless blessing, which may vie | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| With the immortal lights, in its eternity! | 11 | ··˘/˘···˘/˘ |
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 1, line 1 [Compare La Nouvelle Heloise, Partie IV. Lettre xvii, Oeuvres, etc., ii. 262: "Un torrent, forme par la fonte des neiges, rouloit a vingt pas de nous line eau bourbeuse, et charrioit avec bruit du limon, du sable et des pierres.... Des forets de noirs sapins nous ombrageoient tristement a droite. Un grand bois de chenes etoit a gauche au-dela du torrent."]
- Stanza 3, line 1 [Compare the Pervigilium Veneris--
"Cras amet qui nunquam amavit, Quique amavit eras amet." ("Let those love now, who never loved before; Let those who always loved, now love the more.")
Parnell's Vigil of Venus: British Poets, 1794, vii. 7.]
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