Canto III XXXIX
Conqueror and captive of the earth art thou!She trembles at thee still, and thy wild nameWas ne'er more bruited in men's minds than nowThat thou art nothing, save the jest of Fame,Who wooed thee once, thy vassal, and becameThe flatterer of thy fierceness, till thou wertA god unto thyself; nor less the sameTo the astounded kingdoms all inert,Who deemed thee for a time whate'er thou didst assert.
Oh, more or less than man--in high or low,Battling with nations, flying from the field;Now making monarchs' necks thy footstool, nowMore than thy meanest soldier taught to yield:An empire thou couldst crush, command, rebuild,But govern not thy pettiest passion, nor,However deeply in men's spirits skilled,Look through thine own, nor curb the lust of war,Nor learn that tempted Fate will leave the loftiest star.
Yet well thy soul hath brooked the turning tideWith that untaught innate philosophy,Which, be it wisdom, coldness, or deep pride,Is gall and wormwood to an enemy.When the whole host of hatred stood hard by,To watch and mock thee shrinking, thou hast smiledWith a sedate and all-enduring eye;When Fortune fled her spoiled and favourite child,He stood unbowed beneath the ills upon him piled.
Words in this poem
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- footstool n.
- A low stool to support the feet of one when sitting.
- rebuild v. t.
- To build again, as something which has been demolished; to construct anew; as, to rebuild a house, a wall, a wharf, or a city.
- lust v. i.
- To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- unbowed a.
- Not bent or arched; not bowed down. [Pref. un- not + bowed.]
- piled a.
- Having a pile or point; pointed. [From 2d Pile.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto III XXXIX 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 XXXIX, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iii-xxxix.html, id L06551.
Form and metre
Canto III XXXIX 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%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% 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 thouA · nameB · nowA · fameB · becameB · wertC · sameB · inertC · assertC
- 2 ABABBCBCC lowA · fieldB · nowA · yieldB · rebuildB · norC · skilledB · warC · starC
- 3 ABABBCBCC tideA · philosophyB · prideA · enemyB · byB · smiledC · eyeB · childC · piledC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Conqueror and captive of the earth art thou! | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| She trembles at thee still, and thy wild name | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Was ne'er more bruited in men's minds than now | 10 | ·········· |
| That thou art nothing, save the jest of Fame, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Who wooed thee once, thy vassal, and became | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| The flatterer of thy fierceness, till thou wert | 12 | ·/˘˘········ |
| A god unto thyself; nor less the same | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| To the astounded kingdoms all inert, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Who deemed thee for a time whate'er thou didst assert. | 13 | ······˘˘/··˘/ |
| Oh, more or less than man--in high or low, | 10 | ·········· |
| Battling with nations, flying from the field; | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Now making monarchs' necks thy footstool, now | 10 | ·/˘/···/˘· |
| More than thy meanest soldier taught to yield: | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| An empire thou couldst crush, command, rebuild, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘/ |
| But govern not thy pettiest passion, nor, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| However deeply in men's spirits skilled, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Look through thine own, nor curb the lust of war, | 10 | ·········· |
| Nor learn that tempted Fate will leave the loftiest star. | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| Yet well thy soul hath brooked the turning tide | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With that untaught innate philosophy, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Which, be it wisdom, coldness, or deep pride, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Is gall and wormwood to an enemy. | 10 | ···/···/˘˘ |
| When the whole host of hatred stood hard by, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To watch and mock thee shrinking, thou hast smiled | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| With a sedate and all-enduring eye; | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| When Fortune fled her spoiled and favourite child, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| He stood unbowed beneath the ills upon him piled. | 12 | ··˘/········ |
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.