Canto III XCI
All heaven and earth are still--though not in sleep,But breathless, as we grow when feeling most;And silent, as we stand in thoughts too deep: --All heaven and earth are still: from the high hostOf stars, to the lulled lake and mountain-coast,All is concentered in a life intense,Where not a beam, nor air, nor leaf is lost,But hath a part of being, and a senseOf that which is of all Creator and defence.
Then stirs the feeling infinite, so feltIn solitude, where we are LEAST alone;A truth, which through our being then doth melt,And purifies from self: it is a tone,The soul and source of music, which makes knownEternal harmony, and sheds a charm,Like to the fabled Cytherea's zone,Binding all things with beauty;--'twould disarmThe spectre Death, had he substantial power to harm.
Nor vainly did the early Persian makeHis altar the high places and the peakOf earth-o'ergazing mountains, and thus takeA fit and unwalled temple, there to seekThe Spirit, in whose honour shrines are weak,Upreared of human hands. Come, and compareColumns and idol-dwellings, Goth or Greek,With Nature's realms of worship, earth and air,Nor fix on fond abodes to circumscribe thy prayer!
Words in this poem
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
- defence n.
- The act of defending, or the state of being defended; protection, as from violence or danger. [F. défense, OF. defense, fem., defens, masc., fr. L. defensa (cf. Fence.]
- disarm v. t.
- To deprive of arms; to take away the weapons of; to deprive of the means of attack or defense; to render defenseless. [OE. desarmen, F. désarmer; pref. dés- (L. dis-) + armer to arm. See Arm.]
- spectre n.
- Something preternaturally visible; an apparition; a ghost; a phantom. [F. spectre, fr. L. spectrum an appearance, image, specter, fr. specere to look. See Spy, and cf. Spectrum.]
- 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.]
- idol n.
- An image or representation of anything. [OE. idole, F. idole, L. idolum, fr. Gr. Wit, and cf. Eidolon.]
- circumscribe v. t.
- to write or engare around. [L. circumscribere, -scriptum; circum + scribere to write, draw. See Soribe.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto III XCI 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 XCI, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iii-xci.html, id L06569.
Form and metre
Canto III XCI 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 89%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 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 sleepA · mostB · deepA · hostB · coastB · intenseC · lostB · senseC · defenceC
- 2 ABABBCBCC feltA · aloneB · meltA · toneB · knownB · charmC · zoneB · disarmC · harmC
- 3 ABABBCBCC makeA · peakB · takeA · seekB · weakB · compareC · greekB · airC · prayerC
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 heaven and earth are still--though not in sleep, | 10 | ·/········ |
| But breathless, as we grow when feeling most; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And silent, as we stand in thoughts too deep: -- | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| All heaven and earth are still: from the high host | 10 | ·/········ |
| Of stars, to the lulled lake and mountain-coast, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| All is concentered in a life intense, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Where not a beam, nor air, nor leaf is lost, | 10 | ·········· |
| But hath a part of being, and a sense | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of that which is of all Creator and defence. | 12 | ······˘/˘·˘/ |
| Then stirs the feeling infinite, so felt | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| In solitude, where we are LEAST alone; | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| A truth, which through our being then doth melt, | 10 | ····//˘··· |
| And purifies from self: it is a tone, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The soul and source of music, which makes known | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Eternal harmony, and sheds a charm, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘˘···· |
| Like to the fabled Cytherea's zone, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Binding all things with beauty;--'twould disarm | 10 | /˘···/˘·˘/ |
| The spectre Death, had he substantial power to harm. | 12 | ·/˘···˘/˘/·· |
| Nor vainly did the early Persian make | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| His altar the high places and the peak | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Of earth-o'ergazing mountains, and thus take | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A fit and unwalled temple, there to seek | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The Spirit, in whose honour shrines are weak, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Upreared of human hands. Come, and compare | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Columns and idol-dwellings, Goth or Greek, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| With Nature's realms of worship, earth and air, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Nor fix on fond abodes to circumscribe thy prayer! | 12 | ····˘/··˘/·· |
Notes from the edition 5
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 2 [Compare Wordsworth's sonnet, "It is a Beauteous," etc.--
"It is a beauteous evening, calm and free, The holy time is quiet as a nun Breathless with adoration."] - Stanza 1, line 9 [Here, too, the note is Wordsworthian, though Byron represents as inherent in Nature, that "sense of something far more deeply interfused," which Wordsworth (in his Lines on Tintern Abbey) assigns to his own consciousness.]
- Stanza 2, line 7 [As the cestus of Venus endowed the wearer with magical attraction, so the immanence of the Infinite and the Eternal in "all that formal is and fugitive," binds it with beauty and produces a supernatural charm which even Death cannot resist.]
- Stanza 3, line 1 [Compare Herodotus, i. 131, [Greek: Oi(de\ nomi/zousi Dii) me, e)pi\ ta\ y(pselo/tata to~n ou)re/on a)nabai/nontes, thysi/as e(/rdein, to ky/klon pa/nta tou~ y)rano Di/a kale/ontes]. Perhaps, however, "early Persian" was suggested by a passage in "that drowsy, frowsy poem, The Excursion"--
"The Persian--zealous to reject Altar and image and the inclusive walls And roofs and temples built by human hands-- To loftiest heights ascending, from their tops With myrtle-wreathed tiara on his brow, Presented sacrifice to moon and stars."
The Excursion, iv. (The Works of Wordsworth, 1889, p. 461).] - Stanza 3, line 3 It is to be recollected, that the most beautiful and impressive doctrines of the divine Founder of Christianity were delivered, not in the Temple, but on the Mount. To waive the question of devotion, and turn to human eloquence,--the most effectual and splendid specimens were not pronounced within walls. Demosthenes addressed the public and popular assemblies. Cicero spoke in the forum. That this added to their effect on the mind of both orator and hearers, may be conceived from the difference between what we read of the emotions then and there produced, and those we ourselves experience in the perusal in the closet. It is one thing to read the Iliad at Sigaeum and on the tumuli, or by the springs with Mount Ida above, and the plain and rivers and Archipelago around you; and another to trim your taper over it in a snug library--this I know. Were the early and rapid progress of what is called Methodism to be attributed to any cause beyond the enthusiasm excited by its vehement faith and doctrines (the truth or error of which I presume neither to canvass nor to question), I should venture to ascribe it to the practice of preaching in the fields, and the unstudied and extemporaneous effusions of its teachers. The Mussulmans, whose erroneous devotion (at least in the lower orders) is most sincere, and therefore impressive, are accustomed to repeat their prescribed orisons and prayers, wherever they may be, at the stated hours--of course, frequently in the open air, kneeling upon a light mat (which they carry for the purpose of a bed or cushion as required); the ceremony lasts some minutes, during which they are totally absorbed, and only living in their supplication: nothing can disturb them. On me the simple and entire sincerity of these men, and the spirit which appeared to be within and upon them, made a far greater impression than any general rite which was ever performed in places of worship, of which I have seen those of almost every persuasion under the sun; including most of our own sectaries, and the Greek, the Catholic, the Armenian, the Lutheran, the Jewish, and the Mahometan. Many of the negroes, of whom there are numbers in the Turkish empire, are idolaters, and have free exercise of their belief and its rites; some of these I had a distant view of at Patras; and, from what I could make out of them, they appeared to be of a truly Pagan description, and not very agreeable to a spectator.
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