Canto III LVIII
By Coblentz, on a rise of gentle ground,There is a small and simple pyramid,Crowning the summit of the verdant mound;Beneath its base are heroes' ashes hid,Our enemy's,--but let not that forbidHonour to Marceau! o'er whose early tombTears, big tears, gushed from the rough soldier's lid,Lamenting and yet envying such a doom,Falling for France, whose rights he battled to resume.
Brief, brave, and glorious was his young career,--His mourners were two hosts, his friends and foes;And fitly may the stranger lingering herePray for his gallant spirit's bright repose;For he was Freedom's champion, one of those,The few in number, who had not o'ersteptThe charter to chastise which she bestowsOn such as wield her weapons; he had keptThe whiteness of his soul, and thus men o'er him wept.
Here Ehrenbreitstein, with her shattered wallBlack with the miner's blast, upon her heightYet shows of what she was, when shell and ballRebounding idly on her strength did light;A tower of victory! from whence the flightOf baffled foes was watched along the plain;But Peace destroyed what War could never blight,And laid those proud roofs bare to Summer's rain--On which the iron shower for years had poured in vain.
Words in this poem
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- resume n.
- A summing up; a condensed statement; an abridgment or brief recapitulation. [F. See Resume.]
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- career n.
- A race course: the ground run over. [F. carrière race course, high road, street, fr. L. carrus wagon. See Car.]
- wield v. t.
- To govern; to rule; to keep, or have in charge; also, to possess. [OE. welden to govern, to have power over, to possess, AS. geweldan, gewyldan, from wealdan; akin to OS. waldan, OFries. walda, G. walten, OHG. waltan, Icel. val]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto III LVIII 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 LVIII, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iii-lviii.html, id L06558.
Form and metre
Canto III LVIII 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%). 92% 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. 37% 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 groundA · pyramidB · moundA · hidB · forbidB · tombC · lidB · doomC · resumeC
- 2 ABABBCBCC careerA · foesB · hereA · reposeB · thoseB · o'ersteptC · bestowsB · keptC · weptC
- 3 ABABBCBCC wallA · heightB · ballA · lightB · flightB · plainC · blightB · rainC · vainC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| By Coblentz, on a rise of gentle ground, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| There is a small and simple pyramid, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Crowning the summit of the verdant mound; | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Beneath its base are heroes' ashes hid, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Our enemy's,--but let not that forbid | 10 | //˘˘····˘/ |
| Honour to Marceau! o'er whose early tomb | 10 | /˘·˘/··/˘· |
| Tears, big tears, gushed from the rough soldier's lid, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Lamenting and yet envying such a doom, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Falling for France, whose rights he battled to resume. | 12 | /˘·····/˘·˘/ |
| Brief, brave, and glorious was his young career,-- | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| His mourners were two hosts, his friends and foes; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And fitly may the stranger lingering here | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Pray for his gallant spirit's bright repose; | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| For he was Freedom's champion, one of those, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The few in number, who had not o'erstept | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The charter to chastise which she bestows | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| On such as wield her weapons; he had kept | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The whiteness of his soul, and thus men o'er him wept. | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| Here Ehrenbreitstein, with her shattered wall | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Black with the miner's blast, upon her height | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Yet shows of what she was, when shell and ball | 10 | ·········· |
| Rebounding idly on her strength did light; | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| A tower of victory! from whence the flight | 10 | ·/·/˘˘···· |
| Of baffled foes was watched along the plain; | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| But Peace destroyed what War could never blight, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| And laid those proud roofs bare to Summer's rain-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| On which the iron shower for years had poured in vain. | 11 | ···//······ |
Notes from the edition 4
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 6 [Marceau (vide post, note 2, p. 296) took part in crushing the Vendean insurrection. If, as General Hoche asserts in his memoirs, six hundred thousand fell in Vendee, Freedom's charter was not easily overstepped.]
- Stanza 2, line 9 The monument of the young and lamented General Marceau (killed by a rifle-ball at Alterkirchen, on the last day of the fourth year of the French Republic) still remains as described. The inscriptions on his monument are rather too long, and not required: his name was enough; France adored, and her enemies admired; both wept over him. His funeral was attended by the generals and detachments from both armies. In the same grave General Hoche is interred, a gallant man also in every sense of the word; but though he distinguished himself greatly in battle, he had not the good fortune to die there: his death was attended by suspicions of poison.
A separate monument (not over his body, which is buried by Marceau's) is raised for him near Andernach, opposite to which one of his most memorable exploits was performed, in throwing a bridge to an island on the Rhine [April 18, 1797]. The shape and style are different from that of Marceau's, and the inscription more simple and pleasing.
"The Army of the Sambre and Meuse to its Commander-in-Chief Hoche."
This is all, and as it should be. Hoche was esteemed among the first of France's earlier generals, before Buonaparte monopolised her triumphs. He was the destined commander of the invading army of Ireland.
[The tomb of Francois Severin Desgravins Marceau (1769-1796, general of the French Republic) bears the following epitaph and inscription:--
"'Hic cineres, ubique nomen.'
"Ici repose Marceau, ne a Chartres, Eure-et-Loir, soldat a seize ans, general a vingtdeux ans. Il mourut en combattant pour sa patrie, le dernier jour de l'an iv. de la Republique francaise. Qui que tu sois, ami ou ennemi de ce jeune heros, respecte ces cendres."
A bronze statue at Versailles, raised to the memory of General Hoche (1768-1797) bears a very similar record--
"A Lazare Hoche, ne a Versailles le 24 juin, 1768, sergent a seize ans, general en chef a vingt-cinq, mort a vingt-neuf, pacificateur de la Vendee."] - Stanza 3, line 1 Ehrenbreitstein, i.e. "the broad stone of honour," one of the strongest fortresses in Europe, was dismantled and blown up by the French at the truce of Leoben. It had been, and could only be, reduced by famine or treachery. It yielded to the former, aided by surprise. After having seen the fortifications of Gibraltar and Malta, it did not much strike by comparison; but the situation is commanding. General Marceau besieged it in vain for some time, and I slept in a room where I was shown a window at which he is said to have been standing observing the progress of the siege by moonlight, when a ball struck immediately below it.
[Ehrenbreitstein, which had resisted the French under Marshal Boufflers in 1680, and held out against Marceau (1795-96), finally capitulated to the French after a prolonged siege in 1799. The fortifications were dismantled when the French evacuated the fortress after the Treaty of Luneville in 1801. The Treaty of Leoben was signed April 18, 1797.] - Stanza 3, line 9 [Compare Gray's lines in The Fatal Sisters--
"Iron-sleet of arrowy shower Hurtles in the darken'd air."]
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.