Canto III LXXIX
Here the self-torturing sophist, wild Rousseau,The apostle of affliction, he who threwEnchantment over passion, and from woeWrung overwhelming eloquence, first drewThe breath which made him wretched; yet he knewHow to make madness beautiful, and castO'er erring deeds and thoughts a heavenly hueOf words, like sunbeams, dazzling as they pastThe eyes, which o'er them shed tears feelingly and fast.
His love was passion's essence--as a treeOn fire by lightning; with ethereal flameKindled he was, and blasted; for to beThus, and enamoured, were in him the same.But his was not the love of living dame,Nor of the dead who rise upon our dreams,But of Ideal beauty, which becameIn him existence, and o'erflowing teemsAlong his burning page, distempered though it seems.
THIS breathed itself to life in Julie, THISInvested her with all that's wild and sweet;This hallowed, too, the memorable kissWhich every morn his fevered lip would greet,From hers, who but with friendship his would meet:But to that gentle touch, through brain and breastFlashed the thrilled spirit's love-devouring heat;In that absorbing sigh perchance more blest,Than vulgar minds may be with all they seek possest.
Words in this poem
- feelingly adv.
- In a feeling manner; pathetically; sympathetically.
- blasted a.
- Blighted; withered.
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- memorable a.
- Worthy to be remembered; very important or remarkable. [L. memorabilis, fr. memorare to bring to remembrance, fr. memor mindful, remembering. See Memory, and cf. Memorabilia.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto III LXXIX 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 LXXIX, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iii-lxxix.html, id L06565.
Form and metre
Canto III LXXIX 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 82%). 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. 56% 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 rousseauA · threwB · woeA · drewB · knewB · castC · hueB · pastC · fastC
- 2 ABABBCBCC treeA · flameB · beA · sameB · dameB · dreamsC · becameB · teemsC · seemsC
- 3 ABABBCBCC thisA · sweetB · kissA · greetB · meetB · breastC · heatB · blestC · possestC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Here the self-torturing sophist, wild Rousseau, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The apostle of affliction, he who threw | 11 | ·˘/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Enchantment over passion, and from woe | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Wrung overwhelming eloquence, first drew | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| The breath which made him wretched; yet he knew | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| How to make madness beautiful, and cast | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| O'er erring deeds and thoughts a heavenly hue | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Of words, like sunbeams, dazzling as they past | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| The eyes, which o'er them shed tears feelingly and fast. | 12 | ·······/˘˘·· |
| His love was passion's essence--as a tree | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| On fire by lightning; with ethereal flame | 10 | ·/·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Kindled he was, and blasted; for to be | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Thus, and enamoured, were in him the same. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| But his was not the love of living dame, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Nor of the dead who rise upon our dreams, | 10 | ········/· |
| But of Ideal beauty, which became | 9 | ··˘//˘·˘/ |
| In him existence, and o'erflowing teems | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Along his burning page, distempered though it seems. | 12 | ˘/·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| THIS breathed itself to life in Julie, THIS | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Invested her with all that's wild and sweet; | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| This hallowed, too, the memorable kiss | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘˘· |
| Which every morn his fevered lip would greet, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| From hers, who but with friendship his would meet: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But to that gentle touch, through brain and breast | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Flashed the thrilled spirit's love-devouring heat; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| In that absorbing sigh perchance more blest, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/·· |
| Than vulgar minds may be with all they seek possest. | 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 3, line 3 This refers to the account, in his Confessions, of his passion for the Comtesse d'Houdetot (the mistress of St. Lambert), and his long walk every morning, for the sake of the single kiss which was the common salutation of French acquaintance. Rousseau's description of his feelings on this occasion may be considered as the most passionate, yet not impure, description and expression of love that ever kindled into words; which, after all, must be felt, from their very force, to be inadequate to the delineation; a painting can give no sufficient idea of the ocean.
[Here is Rousseau's "passionate, yet not impure," description of his sensations: "J'ai dit qu'il y avoit loin de l'Hermitage a Eaubonne; je passois par les coteaux d'Andilly qui sont charmans. Je revois en marchant a celle que j'allois voir, a l'accueil caressant qu'elle me feroit, au baiser qui m'attendoit a mon arrivee. Ce seul baiser, ce baiser funeste avant meme de le recevoir, m'embrasoit le sang a tel point, que ma tete se troubloit, un eblouissement m'aveugloit, mes genoux tremblants ne pouroient me soutenir; j'etois force de m'arreter, de m'asseoir; toute ma machine etoit dans un desordre inconcevable; j'etois pret a m'evanouir.... A l'instant que je la voyois, tout etoit repare; je ne sentois plus aupres d'elle que l'importunite d'une vigueur inepuisable et toujours inutile."--Les Confessions, Partie II. livre ix.; Oeuvres Completes de J.J. Rousseau, 1837, i. 233.
Byron's mother "would have it" that her son was like Rousseau, but he disclaimed the honour antithetically and with needless particularity (see his letter to Mrs. Byron, and a quotation from his Detached Thoughts, Letters, 1898, i. 192, note). There was another point of unlikeness, which he does not mention. Byron, on the passion of love, does not "make for morality," but he eschews nastiness. The loves of Don Juan and Haidee are chaste as snow compared with the unspeakable philanderings of the elderly Jean Jacques and the "mistress of St. Lambert."
Nevertheless, his mother was right. There was a resemblance, and consequently an affinity, between Childe Burun and the "visionary of Geneva"--delineated by another seer or visionary as "the dreamer of love-sick tales, and the spinner of speculative cobwebs; shy of light as the mole, but as quick-eared too for every whisper of the public opinion; the teacher of Stoic pride in his principles, yet the victim of morbid vanity in his feelings …
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