Canto III XCVII
Now, where the quick Rhone thus hath cleft his way,The mightiest of the storms hath ta'en his stand;For here, not one, but many, make their play,And fling their thunderbolts from hand to hand,Flashing and cast around: of all the band,The brightest through these parted hills hath forkedHis lightnings, as if he did understandThat in such gaps as desolation worked,There the hot shaft should blast whatever therein lurked.
Sky, mountains, river, winds, lake, lightnings! ye,With night, and clouds, and thunder, and a soulTo make these felt and feeling, well may beThings that have made me watchful; the far rollOf your departing voices, is the knollOf what in me is sleepless,--if I rest.But where of ye, O tempests! is the goal?Are ye like those within the human breast?Or do ye find at length, like eagles, some high nest?
Could I embody and unbosom nowThat which is most within me,--could I wreakMy thoughts upon expression, and thus throwSoul, heart, mind, passions, feelings, strong or weak,All that I would have sought, and all I seek,Bear, know, feel, and yet breathe--into one word,And that one word were lightning, I would speak;But as it is, I live and die unheard,With a most voiceless thought, sheathing it as a sword.
Words in this poem
- desolation n.
- The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation. [F. désolation, L. desolatio.]
- sleepless a.
- Having no sleep; wakeful.
- unbosom v. t.
- To disclose freely; to reveal in confidence, as secrets; to confess; -- often used reflexively; as, to unbosom one's self. [1st pref. un- + bosom.]
- wreak v. i.
- To reck; to care.
- unheard a.
- Not heard; not perceived by the ear; as, words unheard by those present.
- voiceless a.
- Having no voice, utterance, or vote; silent; mute; dumb.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto III XCVII 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 XCVII, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iii-xcvii.html, id L06571.
Form and metre
Canto III XCVII 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%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 33% 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 wayA · standB · playA · handB · bandB · forkedC · understandB · workedC · lurkedC
- 2 ABABBCBCC yeA · soulB · beA · rollB · knollB · restC · goalB · breastC · nestC
- 3 ABABBCBCC nowA · wreakB · throwA · weakB · seekB · wordC · speakB · unheardC · swordC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Now, where the quick Rhone thus hath cleft his way, | 10 | ·········· |
| The mightiest of the storms hath ta'en his stand; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| For here, not one, but many, make their play, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And fling their thunderbolts from hand to hand, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Flashing and cast around: of all the band, | 10 | /˘········ |
| The brightest through these parted hills hath forked | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| His lightnings, as if he did understand | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| That in such gaps as desolation worked, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| There the hot shaft should blast whatever therein lurked. | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| Sky, mountains, river, winds, lake, lightnings! ye, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| With night, and clouds, and thunder, and a soul | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To make these felt and feeling, well may be | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Things that have made me watchful; the far roll | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of your departing voices, is the knoll | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Of what in me is sleepless,--if I rest. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But where of ye, O tempests! is the goal? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Are ye like those within the human breast? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Or do ye find at length, like eagles, some high nest? | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| Could I embody and unbosom now | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| That which is most within me,--could I wreak | 10 | ·········· |
| My thoughts upon expression, and thus throw | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Soul, heart, mind, passions, feelings, strong or weak, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| All that I would have sought, and all I seek, | 10 | ·········· |
| Bear, know, feel, and yet breathe--into one word, | 10 | ·········· |
| And that one word were lightning, I would speak; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But as it is, I live and die unheard, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| With a most voiceless thought, sheathing it as a sword. | 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 2, line 5 [There are numerous instances of the use of "knoll" as an alternative form of the verb "to knell;" but Byron seems, in this passage, to be the authority for "knoll" as a substantive.]
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.