Canto III XVIII
Self-exiled Harold wanders forth again,With naught of hope left, but with less of gloom;The very knowledge that he lived in vain,That all was over on this side the tomb,Had made Despair a smilingness assume,Which, though 'twere wild--as on the plundered wreckWhen mariners would madly meet their doomWith draughts intemperate on the sinking deck--Did yet inspire a cheer, which he forbore to check.
Stop! for thy tread is on an empire's dust!An earthquake's spoil is sepulchred below!Is the spot marked with no colossal bust?Nor column trophied for triumphal show?None; but the moral's truth tells simpler so,As the ground was before, thus let it be;--How that red rain hath made the harvest grow!And is this all the world has gained by thee,Thou first and last of fields! king-making Victory?
And Harold stands upon this place of skulls,The grave of France, the deadly Waterloo!How in an hour the power which gave annulsIts gifts, transferring fame as fleeting too!In 'pride of place' here last the eagle flew,Then tore with bloody talon the rent plain,Pierced by the shaft of banded nations through:Ambition's life and labours all were vain;He wears the shattered links of the world's broken chain.
Words in this poem
- smilingness n.
- Quality or state of being smiling.
- madly adv.
- In a mad manner; without reason or understanding; wildly. [From Mad, a.]
- colossal a.
- Of enormous size; gigantic; huge; as, a colossal statue. [Cf. F. cossal, L. colosseus. See Colossus.]
- trophied a.
- Adorned with trophies.
- triumphal n.
- A token of victory.
- tore n.
- The dead grass that remains on mowing land in winter and spring. Mortimer. [Probably from the root of tear; cf. W. tór a break, cut, tóri to break, cut.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto III XVIII 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 XVIII, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iii-xviii.html, id L06544.
Form and metre
Canto III XVIII 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%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% 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 againA · gloomB · vainA · tombB · assumeB · wreckC · doomB · deckC · checkC
- 2 ABABBCBCC dustA · belowB · bustA · showB · soB · beC · growB · theeC · victoryC
- 3 ABABBCBCC skullsA · waterlooB · annulsA · tooB · flewB · plainC · throughB · vainC · chainC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Self-exiled Harold wanders forth again, | 10 | ·/·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| With naught of hope left, but with less of gloom; | 10 | ·········· |
| The very knowledge that he lived in vain, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| That all was over on this side the tomb, | 10 | ·········· |
| Had made Despair a smilingness assume, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘˘˘/ |
| Which, though 'twere wild--as on the plundered wreck | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| When mariners would madly meet their doom | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| With draughts intemperate on the sinking deck-- | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Did yet inspire a cheer, which he forbore to check. | 12 | ··˘/····˘/·· |
| Stop! for thy tread is on an empire's dust! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| An earthquake's spoil is sepulchred below! | 10 | ·/·····˘·· |
| Is the spot marked with no colossal bust? | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Nor column trophied for triumphal show? | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| None; but the moral's truth tells simpler so, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| As the ground was before, thus let it be;-- | 10 | ·········· |
| How that red rain hath made the harvest grow! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And is this all the world has gained by thee, | 10 | ·········· |
| Thou first and last of fields! king-making Victory? | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| And Harold stands upon this place of skulls, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The grave of France, the deadly Waterloo! | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| How in an hour the power which gave annuls | 11 | ···/·/˘··/˘ |
| Its gifts, transferring fame as fleeting too! | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| In 'pride of place' here last the eagle flew, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Then tore with bloody talon the rent plain, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Pierced by the shaft of banded nations through: | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Ambition's life and labours all were vain; | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| He wears the shattered links of the world's broken chain. | 12 | ···/˘····/˘· |
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 1, line 1 [In this stanza the mask is thrown aside, and "the real Lord Byron" appears in propria persona.]
- Stanza 2, line 3 [The mound with the Belgian lion was erected by William I. of Holland, in 1823.]
- Stanza 2, line 5 [Stanzas xvii., xviii., were written after a visit to Waterloo. When Byron was in Brussels, a friend of his boyhood, Pryse Lockhart Gordon, called upon him and offered his services. He escorted him to the field of Waterloo, and received him at his house in the evening. Mrs. Gordon produced her album, and begged for an autograph. The next morning Byron copied into the album the two stanzas which he had written the day before. Lines 5-8 of the second stanza (xviii.) ran thus--
"Here his last flight the haughty Eagle flew, Then tore with bloody beak the fatal plain, Pierced with the shafts of banded nations through ..."
The autograph suggested an illustration to an artist, R. R. Reinagle (1775-1863), "a pencil-sketch of a spirited chained eagle, grasping the earth with his talons." Gordon showed the vignette to Byron, who wrote in reply, "Reinagle is a better poet and a better ornithologist than I am; eagles and all birds of prey attack with their talons and not with their beaks, and I have altered the line thus--
"'Then tore with bloody talon the rent plain.'"
(See Personal Memoirs of Pryse Lockhart Gordon, 1830, ii. 327, 328.)] - Stanza 3, line 5 "Pride of place" is a term of falconry, and means the highest pitch of flight. See Macbeth, etc.--
"An eagle towering in his pride of place Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and killed."
["A falcon towering in her pride of place," etc. Macbeth, act ii. sc. 4, line 12.]
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