Canto IV CII
But who was she, the lady of the dead,Tombed in a palace? Was she chaste and fair?Worthy a king's--or more--a Roman's bed?What race of chiefs and heroes did she bear?What daughter of her beauties was the heir?How lived--how loved--how died she? Was she notSo honoured--and conspicuously there,Where meaner relics must not dare to rot,Placed to commemorate a more than mortal lot?
Was she as those who love their lords, or theyWho love the lords of others? such have beenEven in the olden time, Rome's annals say.Was she a matron of Cornelia's mien,Or the light air of Egypt's graceful queen,Profuse of joy; or 'gainst it did she war,Inveterate in virtue? Did she leanTo the soft side of the heart, or wisely barLove from amongst her griefs?--for such the affections are.
Perchance she died in youth: it may be, bowedWith woes far heavier than the ponderous tombThat weighed upon her gentle dust, a cloudMight gather o'er her beauty, and a gloomIn her dark eye, prophetic of the doomHeaven gives its favourites--early death; yet shedA sunset charm around her, and illumeWith hectic light, the Hesperus of the dead,Of her consuming cheek the autumnal leaf-like red.
Words in this poem
- olden a.
- Old; ancient; as, the olden time.
- annals n.
- A relation of events in chronological order, each event being recorded under the year in which it happened. [L. annalis (sc. liber), and more frequently in the pl. annales (sc. libri), chronicles, fr. annus year. Cf. Annual.]
- inveterate a.
- Old; long-established. [L. inveteratus, p. p. of inveterare to render old; pref. in- in + vetus, veteris, old. See Veteran.]
- amongst prep.
- Mixed or mingled; surrounded by. [OE. amongist, amonges, amonge, among, AS. onmang, ongemang, gemang, in a crowd or mixture. For the ending -st see Amidst. See Mingle.]
- illume v. t.
- To throw or spread light upon; to make light or bright; to illuminate; to illumine. [Cf. F. illuminer. See Illuminate.]
- hectic a.
- Habitual; constitutional; pertaining especially to slow waste of animal tissue, as in consumption; as, a hectic type in disease; a hectic flush. [F. hectique, Gr. sah to overpower, endure; cf. AS. sige, sigor, victory, G. sieg, Goth. sigis. Cf. Scheme.]
- hesperus n.
- Venus when she is the evening star; Hesper. [L. See Hesper.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto IV CII 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 IV CII, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iv-cii.html, id L06612.
Form and metre
Canto IV CII 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 85%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 44% 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 deadA · fairB · bedA · bearB · heirB · notC · thereB · rotC · lotC
- 2 ABABBCBCC theyA · beenB · sayA · mienB · queenB · warC · leanB · barC · areC
- 3 ABABBCBCC bowedA · tombB · cloudA · gloomB · doomB · shedC · illumeB · deadC · redC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| But who was she, the lady of the dead, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Tombed in a palace? Was she chaste and fair? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Worthy a king's--or more--a Roman's bed? | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| What race of chiefs and heroes did she bear? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| What daughter of her beauties was the heir? | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| How lived--how loved--how died she? Was she not | 10 | ·········· |
| So honoured--and conspicuously there, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘˘· |
| Where meaner relics must not dare to rot, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Placed to commemorate a more than mortal lot? | 12 | ··˘/˘····/˘· |
| Was she as those who love their lords, or they | 10 | ·········· |
| Who love the lords of others? such have been | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Even in the olden time, Rome's annals say. | 10 | /··/˘··/˘· |
| Was she a matron of Cornelia's mien, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Or the light air of Egypt's graceful queen, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Profuse of joy; or 'gainst it did she war, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Inveterate in virtue? Did she lean | 10 | ˘/˘˘·/˘··· |
| To the soft side of the heart, or wisely bar | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Love from amongst her griefs?--for such the affections are. | 13 | ·········˘/˘· |
| Perchance she died in youth: it may be, bowed | 10 | ˘/········ |
| With woes far heavier than the ponderous tomb | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That weighed upon her gentle dust, a cloud | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Might gather o'er her beauty, and a gloom | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| In her dark eye, prophetic of the doom | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Heaven gives its favourites--early death; yet shed | 11 | /·····/˘··· |
| A sunset charm around her, and illume | 10 | ·/······˘/ |
| With hectic light, the Hesperus of the dead, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘˘··· |
| Of her consuming cheek the autumnal leaf-like red. | 13 | ··˘/˘··˘/˘··· |
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 3, line 6 [Greek: On oi(theoi\ philou~sin a)pothne/skei ne/os] [Greek: To\ ga\r thanei~n ou)ch ai)schro\n, a)ll' ai)schro~s thanei~n]. Gnomici Poetae Graeci, R. F. P. Brunck, 1784, p. 231.
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