Canto III IX
Yet must I think less wildly: I HAVE thoughtToo long and darkly, till my brain became,In its own eddy boiling and o'erwrought,A whirling gulf of phantasy and flame:And thus, untaught in youth my heart to tame,My springs of life were poisoned. 'Tis too late!Yet am I changed; though still enough the sameIn strength to bear what time cannot abate,And feed on bitter fruits without accusing fate.
Something too much of this: but now 'tis past,And the spell closes with its silent seal.Long-absent Harold reappears at last;He of the breast which fain no more would feel,Wrung with the wounds which kill not, but ne'er heal;Yet Time, who changes all, had altered himIn soul and aspect as in age: years stealFire from the mind as vigour from the limb;And life's enchanted cup but sparkles near the brim.
His had been quaffed too quickly, and he foundThe dregs were wormwood; but he filled again,And from a purer fount, on holier ground,And deemed its spring perpetual; but in vain!Still round him clung invisibly a chainWhich galled for ever, fettering though unseen,And heavy though it clanked not; worn with pain,Which pined although it spoke not, and grew keen,Entering with every step he took through many a scene.
Words in this poem
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- vigour v. t.
- To invigorate. Feltham.
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- clung a.
- Wasted away; shrunken. [Prop. p. p. fr. OE. clingen to wither. See Cling, v. i.]
- invisibly adv.
- In an invisible manner, Denham.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto III IX 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 IX, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iii-ix.html, id L06541.
Form and metre
Canto III IX 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 86%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 22% 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 thoughtA · becameB · o'erwroughtA · flameB · tameB · lateC · sameB · abateC · fateC
- 2 ABABBCBCC pastA · sealB · lastA · feelB · healB · himC · stealB · limbC · brimC
- 3 ABABBCBCC foundA · againB · groundA · vainB · chainB · unseenC · painB · keenC · sceneC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yet must I think less wildly: I HAVE thought | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Too long and darkly, till my brain became, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| In its own eddy boiling and o'erwrought, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| A whirling gulf of phantasy and flame: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| And thus, untaught in youth my heart to tame, | 10 | ·········· |
| My springs of life were poisoned. 'Tis too late! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Yet am I changed; though still enough the same | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| In strength to bear what time cannot abate, | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| And feed on bitter fruits without accusing fate. | 12 | ···/˘···˘/˘· |
| Something too much of this: but now 'tis past, | 10 | /˘········ |
| And the spell closes with its silent seal. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Long-absent Harold reappears at last; | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/·· |
| He of the breast which fain no more would feel, | 10 | ·········· |
| Wrung with the wounds which kill not, but ne'er heal; | 10 | ·········· |
| Yet Time, who changes all, had altered him | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| In soul and aspect as in age: years steal | 10 | ···/······ |
| Fire from the mind as vigour from the limb; | 10 | /····/˘··· |
| And life's enchanted cup but sparkles near the brim. | 12 | ··˘/˘··/˘··· |
| His had been quaffed too quickly, and he found | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The dregs were wormwood; but he filled again, | 10 | ···/····˘/ |
| And from a purer fount, on holier ground, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And deemed its spring perpetual; but in vain! | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Still round him clung invisibly a chain | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| Which galled for ever, fettering though unseen, | 10 | ···//˘˘·˘/ |
| And heavy though it clanked not; worn with pain, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Which pined although it spoke not, and grew keen, | 10 | ·········· |
| Entering with every step he took through many a scene. | 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 1, line 6 [Compare The Dream, viii. 6, seq.--
"Pain was mixed In all which was served up to him, until * * * * * He fed on poisons, and they had no power, But were a kind of nutriment."] - Stanza 2, line 2 [Of himself as distinct from Harold he will say no more. On the tale or spell of his own tragedy is set the seal of silence; but of Harold, the idealized Byron, he once more takes up the parable. In stanzas viii.-xv. he puts the reader in possession of some natural changes, and unfolds the development of thought and feeling which had befallen the Pilgrim since last they had journeyed together. The youthful Harold had sounded the depth of joy and woe. Man delighted him not--no, nor woman neither. For a time, however, he had cured himself of this trick of sadness. He had drunk new life from the fountain of natural beauty and antique lore, and had returned to take his part in the world, inly armed against dangers and temptations. And in the world he had found beauty, and fame had found him. What wonder that he had done as others use, and then discovered that he could not fare as others fared? Henceforth there remained no comfort but in nature, no refuge but in exile!]
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.