Canto III XLVIII
Away with these; true Wisdom's world will beWithin its own creation, or in thine,Maternal Nature! for who teems like thee,Thus on the banks of thy majestic Rhine?There Harold gazes on a work divine,A blending of all beauties; streams and dells,Fruit, foliage, crag, wood, corn-field, mountain, vine,And chiefless castles breathing stern farewellsFrom grey but leafy walls, where Ruin greenly dwells.
And there they stand, as stands a lofty mind,Worn, but unstooping to the baser crowd,All tenantless, save to the crannying wind,Or holding dark communion with the cloud.There was a day when they were young and proud,Banners on high, and battles passed below;But they who fought are in a bloody shroud,And those which waved are shredless dust ere now,And the bleak battlements shall bear no future blow.
Beneath these battlements, within those walls,Power dwelt amidst her passions; in proud stateEach robber chief upheld his armed halls,Doing his evil will, nor less elateThan mightier heroes of a longer date.What want these outlaws conquerors should haveBut History's purchased page to call them great?A wider space, an ornamented grave?Their hopes were not less warm, their souls were full as brave.
Words in this poem
- maternal a.
- Of or pertaining to a mother; becoming to a mother; motherly; as, maternal love; maternal tenderness. [F. maternel, L. maternus, fr. mater mother. See Mother.]
- blending n.
- The act of mingling.
- crag n.
- The neck or throat [A form of craw: cf. D. kraag neck, collar, G. kragen. See Craw.]
- chiefless a.
- Without a chief or leader.
- greenly adv.
- With a green color; newly; freshly, immaturely.
- tenantless a.
- Having no tenants; unoccupied; as, a tenantless mansion.
- shredless a.
- Having no shreds; without a shred.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- amidst prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- elate a.
- Lifted up; raised; elevated. [L. elatus elevated, fig., elated, proud (the figure, perh., being borrowed from a prancing horse); e out + latus (used as p. p. of ferre to bear), for tlatus, a]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto III XLVIII 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 XLVIII, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iii-xlviii.html, id L06554.
Form and metre
Canto III XLVIII 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 88%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 18% 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 beA · thineB · theeA · rhineB · divineB · dellsC · vineB · farewellsC · dwellsC
- 2 ABABBCBCC mindA · crowdB · windA · cloudB · proudB · belowC · shroudB · nowC · blowC
- 3 ABABBCBCC wallsA · stateB · hallsA · elateB · dateB · haveC · greatB · graveC · braveC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Away with these; true Wisdom's world will be | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Within its own creation, or in thine, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Maternal Nature! for who teems like thee, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| Thus on the banks of thy majestic Rhine? | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| There Harold gazes on a work divine, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| A blending of all beauties; streams and dells, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Fruit, foliage, crag, wood, corn-field, mountain, vine, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And chiefless castles breathing stern farewells | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··/ |
| From grey but leafy walls, where Ruin greenly dwells. | 11 | ···/˘··//˘· |
| And there they stand, as stands a lofty mind, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Worn, but unstooping to the baser crowd, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| All tenantless, save to the crannying wind, | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| Or holding dark communion with the cloud. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| There was a day when they were young and proud, | 10 | ·········· |
| Banners on high, and battles passed below; | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| But they who fought are in a bloody shroud, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And those which waved are shredless dust ere now, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And the bleak battlements shall bear no future blow. | 11 | ···/˘···/˘· |
| Beneath these battlements, within those walls, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Power dwelt amidst her passions; in proud state | 10 | /·˘/·/˘··· |
| Each robber chief upheld his armed halls, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··˘· |
| Doing his evil will, nor less elate | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| Than mightier heroes of a longer date. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| What want these outlaws conquerors should have | 10 | ···/·/˘˘·· |
| But History's purchased page to call them great? | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| A wider space, an ornamented grave? | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘· |
| Their hopes were not less warm, their souls were full as brave. | 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 2, line 6 [For the archaic use of "battles" for "battalions," compare Macbeth, act v. sc. 4, line 4; and Scott's Lord of the Isles, vi. 10--
"In battles four beneath their eye, The forces of King Robert lie."] - Stanza 3, line 6 "What wants that knave that a king should have?" was King James's question on meeting Johnny Armstrong and his followers in full accoutrements. See the Ballad.
[Johnie Armstrong, the laird of Gilnockie, on the occasion of an enforced surrender to James V. (1532), came before the king somewhat too richly accoutred, and was hanged for his effrontery--
"There hang nine targats at Johnie's hat, And ilk ane worth three hundred pound-- 'What wants that knave a king suld have But the sword of honour and the crown'?" Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 1821, i. 127.]
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.