Canto III XXVII
And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed,The mustering squadron, and the clattering car,Went pouring forward with impetuous speed,And swiftly forming in the ranks of war;And the deep thunder peal on peal afar;And near, the beat of the alarming drumRoused up the soldier ere the morning star;While thronged the citizens with terror dumb,Or whispering, with white lips--'The foe! They come! they come!'
And wild and high the 'Cameron's gathering' rose,The war-note of Lochiel, which Albyn's hillsHave heard, and heard, too, have her Saxon foes:How in the noon of night that pibroch thrillsSavage and shrill! But with the breath which fillsTheir mountain-pipe, so fill the mountaineersWith the fierce native daring which instilsThe stirring memory of a thousand years,And Evan's, Donald's fame rings in each clansman's ears.
And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves,Dewy with Nature's tear-drops, as they pass,Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves,Over the unreturniug brave,--alas!Ere evening to be trodden like the grassWhich now beneath them, but above shall growIn its next verdure, when this fiery massOf living valour, rolling on the foe,And burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and low.
Words in this poem
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- squadron n.
- Primarily, a square; hence, a square body of troops; a body of troops drawn up in a square. [F. escadron, formerly also esquadron, or It. squadrone. See Squad.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- peal v. i.
- To appeal. Spencer.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- alarming a.
- Exciting, or calculated to excite, alarm; causing apprehension of danger; as, an alarming crisis or report.
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- 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,]
- moulder n.
- One who, or that which, molds or forms into shape; specifically (Founding), one skilled in the art of making molds for castings.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto III XXVII 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 XXVII, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iii-xxvii.html, id L06547.
Form and metre
Canto III XXVII 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 84%). 96% 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 steedA · carB · speedA · warB · afarB · drumC · starB · dumbC · comeC
- 2 ABABBCBCC roseA · hillsB · foesA · thrillsB · fillsB · mountaineersC · instilsB · yearsC · earsC
- 3 ABABBCBCC leavesA · passB · grievesA · alasB · grassB · growC · massB · foeC · lowC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The mustering squadron, and the clattering car, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Went pouring forward with impetuous speed, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| And swiftly forming in the ranks of war; | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And the deep thunder peal on peal afar; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And near, the beat of the alarming drum | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Roused up the soldier ere the morning star; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| While thronged the citizens with terror dumb, | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Or whispering, with white lips--'The foe! They come! they come!' | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| And wild and high the 'Cameron's gathering' rose, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The war-note of Lochiel, which Albyn's hills | 10 | ·········· |
| Have heard, and heard, too, have her Saxon foes: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| How in the noon of night that pibroch thrills | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Savage and shrill! But with the breath which fills | 10 | /˘········ |
| Their mountain-pipe, so fill the mountaineers | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| With the fierce native daring which instils | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The stirring memory of a thousand years, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And Evan's, Donald's fame rings in each clansman's ears. | 12 | ·/˘/˘······· |
| And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Dewy with Nature's tear-drops, as they pass, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves, | 10 | /˘··˘/˘˘·· |
| Over the unreturniug brave,--alas! | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Ere evening to be trodden like the grass | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Which now beneath them, but above shall grow | 10 | ·········· |
| In its next verdure, when this fiery mass | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of living valour, rolling on the foe, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| And burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and low. | 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 9 Sir Evan Cameron, and his descendant, Donald, the "gentle Lochiel" of the "forty-five."
[Sir Evan Cameron (1629-1719) fought against Cromwell, finally yielding on honourable terms to Monk, June 5, 1658, and for James II. at Killiecrankie, June 17, 1689. His grandson, Donald Cameron of Lochiel (1695-1748), celebrated by Campbell, in Lochiel's Warning, 1802, was wounded at Culloden, April 16, 1746. His great-great-grandson, John Cameron, of Fassieferne (b. 1771), in command of the 92nd Highlanders, was mortally wounded at Quatre-Bras, June 16, 1815. Compare Scott's stanzas, The Dance of Death, lines 33, sq.--
"Where through battle's rout and reel, Storm of shot and hedge of steel, Led the grandson of Lochiel, Valiant Fassiefern. * * * * * And Morven long shall tell, And proud Ben Nevis hear with awe, How, upon bloody Quatre-Bras, Brave Cameron heard the wild hurra Of conquest as he fell."
Compare, too, Scott's Field of Waterloo, stanza xxi. lines 14, 15--
"And Cameron, in the shock of steel. Die like the offspring of Lochiel."] - Stanza 3, line 1 The wood of Soignies is supposed to be a remnant of the forest of Ardennes, famous in Bojardo's Orlando, and immortal in Shakspeare's As You Like It. It is also celebrated in Tacitus, as being the spot of successful defence by the Germans against the Roman encroachments. I have ventured to adopt the name connected with nobler associations than those of mere slaughter.
[It is a far cry from Soignies in South Brabant to Ardennes in Luxembourg. Possibly Byron is confounding the "saltus quibus nomen Arduenna" (Tacitus, Ann., 3. 42), the scene of the revolt of the Treviri, with the "saltus Teutoburgiensis" (the Teutoburgen or Lippische Wald, which divides Lippe Detmold from Westphalia), where Arminius defeated the Romans (Tacitus, Ann., 1. 60). (For Boiardo's "Ardenna," see Orlando Innamorato, lib. i. canto 2, st. 30.) Shakespeare's Arden, the "immortal" forest, in As You Like It, "favours" his own Arden in Warwickshire, but derived its name from the "forest of Arden" in Lodge's Rosalynd.]
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