Canto IV CLXXVII
But I forget.--My pilgrim's shrine is won,And he and I must part,--so let it be,--His task and mine alike are nearly done;Yet once more let us look upon the sea:The midland ocean breaks on him and me,And from the Alban mount we now beholdOur friend of youth, that ocean, which when weBeheld it last by Calpe's rock unfoldThose waves, we followed on till the dark Euxine rolled
Upon the blue Symplegades: long years--Long, though not very many--since have doneTheir work on both; some suffering and some tearsHave left us nearly where we had begun:Yet not in vain our mortal race hath run,We have had our reward--and it is here;That we can yet feel gladdened by the sun,And reap from earth, sea, joy almost as dearAs if there were no man to trouble what is clear.
Oh! that the Desert were my dwelling-place,With one fair Spirit for my minister,That I might all forget the human race,And, hating no one, love but only her!Ye Elements!--in whose ennobling stirI feel myself exalted--can ye notAccord me such a being? Do I errIn deeming such inhabit many a spot?Though with them to converse can rarely be our lot.
Words in this poem
- midland a.
- Being in the interior country; distant from the coast or seashore; as, midland towns or inhabitants. Howell.
- alban n.
- A white crystalline resinous substance extracted from gutta- percha by the action of alcohol or ether. [L. albus white.]
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto IV CLXXVII 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 CLXXVII, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iv-clxxvii.html, id L06637.
Form and metre
Canto IV CLXXVII 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 86%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 37% 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 wonA · beB · doneA · seaB · meB · beholdC · weB · unfoldC · rolledC
- 2 ABABBCBCC yearsA · doneB · tearsA · begunB · runB · hereC · sunB · dearC · clearC
- 3 ABABBCBCC placeA · ministerB · raceA · herB · stirB · notC · errB · spotC · lotC
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 I forget.--My pilgrim's shrine is won, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| And he and I must part,--so let it be,-- | 10 | ·········· |
| His task and mine alike are nearly done; | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Yet once more let us look upon the sea: | 10 | ·········· |
| The midland ocean breaks on him and me, | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| And from the Alban mount we now behold | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Our friend of youth, that ocean, which when we | 10 | /····/˘··· |
| Beheld it last by Calpe's rock unfold | 9 | ˘/·····˘/ |
| Those waves, we followed on till the dark Euxine rolled | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| Upon the blue Symplegades: long years-- | 9 | ········· |
| Long, though not very many--since have done | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Their work on both; some suffering and some tears | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Have left us nearly where we had begun: | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Yet not in vain our mortal race hath run, | 10 | ····//˘··· |
| We have had our reward--and it is here; | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| That we can yet feel gladdened by the sun, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And reap from earth, sea, joy almost as dear | 10 | ······/··· |
| As if there were no man to trouble what is clear. | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| Oh! that the Desert were my dwelling-place, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| With one fair Spirit for my minister, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| That I might all forget the human race, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| And, hating no one, love but only her! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Ye Elements!--in whose ennobling stir | 10 | ·/˘˘··˘/˘· |
| I feel myself exalted--can ye not | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Accord me such a being? Do I err | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| In deeming such inhabit many a spot? | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘/·· |
| Though with them to converse can rarely be our lot. | 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 8 ["Calpe's rock" is Gibraltar (compare Childe Harold, Canto II. stanza xxii. line i). "Last" may be the last time that Byron and Childe Harold saw the Mediterranean together. Byron had last seen it--"the Midland Ocean"--by "Calpe's rock," on his return journey to England in 1811. Or by "last" he may mean the last time that it burst upon his view. He had not seen the Mediterranean on his way from Geneva to Venice, in October-November, 1816, or from Venice to Rome, April--May, 1817; but now from the Alban Mount the "ocean" was full in view.]
- Stanza 2, line 1 [Lord Byron embarked from "Calpe's rock" (Gibraltar) August 19, 1809, and after travelling through Greece, he reached Constantinople in the Salsette frigate May 14, 1810. The two island rocks--the Cyanean Symplegades--stand one on the European, the other on the Asiatic side of the Strait, where the Bosphorus joins the Euxine or Black Sea. Both these rocks were visited by Lord Byron in June, 1810.--Note, Ed. 1879.]
- Stanza 2, line 9 ["After the stanza (near the conclusion of Canto 4th) which ends with the line--
"'As if there was no man to trouble what is clear,'
insert the two following stanzas (clxxvii., clxxviii.). Then go on to the stanza beginning, 'Roll on thou,' etc., etc. You will find the place of insertion near the conclusion--just before the address to the Ocean.
"These two stanzas will just make up the number of 500 stanzas to the whole poem.
"Answer when you receive this. I sent back the packets yesterday, and hope they will arrive in safety."--D.] - Stanza 3, line 1 [His desire is towards no light o' love, but for the support and fellowship of his sister. Compare the opening lines of the Epistle to Augusta--
"My sister! my sweet sister! if a name Dearer and purer were, it should be thine; Mountains and seas divide us, but I claim No tears, but tenderness to answer mine: Go where I will, to me thou art the same-- A loved regret which I would not resign. There yet are two things in my destiny,-- A world to roam through and a home with thee.
"The first were nothing--had I still the last, It were the haven of my happiness."]
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.