Canto IV CLXXXIII
The armaments which thunderstrike the wallsOf rock-built cities, bidding nations quake,And monarchs tremble in their capitals.The oak leviathans, whose huge ribs makeTheir clay creator the vain title takeOf lord of thee, and arbiter of war;These are thy toys, and, as the snowy flake,They melt into thy yeast of waves, which marAlike the Armada's pride, or spoils of Trafalgar.
Thy shores are empires, changed in all save thee--Assyria, Greece, Rome, Carthage, what are they?Thy waters washed them power while they were freeAnd many a tyrant since: their shores obeyThe stranger, slave, or savage; their decayHas dried up realms to deserts: not so thou,Unchangeable save to thy wild waves' play--Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow--Such as creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now.
Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's formGlasses itself in tempests; in all time,Calm or convulsed--in breeze, or gale, or storm,Icing the pole, or in the torrid climeDark-heaving;--boundless, endless, and sublime--The image of Eternity--the throneOf the Invisible; even from out thy slimeThe monsters of the deep are made; each zoneObeys thee: thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone.
Words in this poem
- thunderstrike v. t.
- To strike, blast, or injure by, or as by, lightning. Sir P.
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- flake n.
- A paling; a hurdle. [prov. Eng.] [Cf. Icel. flaki, fleki, Dan. flage, D. vlaak.]
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- icing n.
- A coating or covering resembling ice, as of sugar and milk or white of egg; frosting.
- clime n.
- A climate; a tract or region of the earth. See Climate. [L. clima. See Climate.]
- fathomless a.
- Incapable of being fathomed; immeasurable; that can not be sounded.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto IV CLXXXIII 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 CLXXXIII, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iv-clxxxiii.html, id L06639.
Form and metre
Canto IV CLXXXIII 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 83%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 wallsA · quakeB · capitalsA · makeB · takeB · warC · flakeB · marC · trafalgarC
- 2 ABABBCBCC theeA · theyB · freeA · obeyB · decayB · thouC · playB · browC · nowC
- 3 ABABBCBCC formA · timeB · stormA · climeB · sublimeB · throneC · slimeB · zoneC · aloneC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The armaments which thunderstrike the walls | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘˘·· |
| Of rock-built cities, bidding nations quake, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| And monarchs tremble in their capitals. | 10 | ·/·/˘··/˘˘ |
| The oak leviathans, whose huge ribs make | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| Their clay creator the vain title take | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of lord of thee, and arbiter of war; | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| These are thy toys, and, as the snowy flake, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| They melt into thy yeast of waves, which mar | 10 | ·········· |
| Alike the Armada's pride, or spoils of Trafalgar. | 13 | ˘/·˘/˘····˘/˘ |
| Thy shores are empires, changed in all save thee-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Assyria, Greece, Rome, Carthage, what are they? | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Thy waters washed them power while they were free | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| And many a tyrant since: their shores obey | 10 | ·/·/˘···˘/ |
| The stranger, slave, or savage; their decay | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Has dried up realms to deserts: not so thou, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Unchangeable save to thy wild waves' play-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow-- | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Such as creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now. | 12 | ··˘/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form | 11 | ·/˘/˘··˘/˘· |
| Glasses itself in tempests; in all time, | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘··· |
| Calm or convulsed--in breeze, or gale, or storm, | 10 | ·········· |
| Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Dark-heaving;--boundless, endless, and sublime-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The image of Eternity--the throne | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘·· |
| Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
| The monsters of the deep are made; each zone | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Obeys thee: thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone. | 12 | ˘/·····/˘˘˘/ |
Notes from the edition 5
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 4 [Compare Campbell's Battle of the Baltic (stanza ii. lines 1, 2)--
"Like leviathans afloat, Lay their bulwarks on the brine."] - Stanza 1, line 9 The Gale of wind which succeeded the battle of Trafalgar destroyed the greater part (if not all) of the prizes--nineteen sail of the line--taken on that memorable day. I should be ashamed to specify particulars which should be known to all--did we not know that in France the people were kept in ignorance of the event of this most glorious victory in modern times, and that in England it is the present fashion to talk of Waterloo as though it were entirely an English triumph--and a thing to be named with Blenheim and Agincourt--Trafalgar and Aboukir. Posterity will decide; but if it be remembered as a skilful or as a wonderful action, it will be like the battle of Zama, where we think of Hannibal more than of Scipio. For assuredly we dwell on this action, not because it was gained by Blucher or Wellington, but because it was lost by Buonaparte--a man who, with all his vices and his faults, never yet found an adversary with a tithe of his talents (as far as the expression can apply to a conqueror) or his good intentions, his clemency or his fortitude.
Look at his successors throughout Europe, whose imitation of the worst parts of his policy is only limited by their comparative impotence, and their positive imbecility.--[MS. M.] - Stanza 2, line 2 ["When Lord Byron wrote this stanza, he had, no doubt, the following passage in Boswell's Johnson floating in his mind.... 'The grand object of all travelling is to see the shores of the Mediterranean. On those shores were the four great empires of the world--the Assyrian, the Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman' (Life of Johnson, 1876, p. 505)."--Note to Childe Harold, Canto IV. stanza clxxxii. ed. 1891.]
- Stanza 2, line 3 [See letter to Murray, September 24, 1818: "What does 'thy waters wasted them' mean (in the Canto)? That is not me. Consult the MS. always." Nevertheless, the misreading appeared in several editions. (For a correspondence on the subject, see Notes and Queries, first series, vol. i. pp. 182, 278, 324, 508; vol. ix. p. 481; vol. x. pp. 314, 434.)]
- Stanza 3, line 7 [Compare Tennyson's In Memoriam, lv. stanza 6--
"Dragons of the prime, That tare each other in their slime, Were mellow music match'd with him."]
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.