Canto IV CXXVI
We wither from our youth, we gasp away--Sick--sick; unfound the boon, unslaked the thirst,Though to the last, in verge of our decay,Some phantom lures, such as we sought at first--But all too late,--so are we doubly curst.Love, fame, ambition, avarice--'tis the same--Each idle, and all ill, and none the worst--For all are meteors with a different name,And death the sable smoke where vanishes the flame.
Few--none--find what they love or could have loved:Though accident, blind contact, and the strongNecessity of loving, have removedAntipathies--but to recur, ere long,Envenomed with irrevocable wrong;And Circumstance, that unspiritual godAnd miscreator, makes and helps alongOur coming evils with a crutch-like rod,Whose touch turns hope to dust--the dust we all have trod.
Our life is a false nature--'tis not inThe harmony of things,--this hard decree,This uneradicable taint of sin,This boundless upas, this all-blasting tree,Whose root is earth, whose leaves and branches beThe skies which rain their plagues on men like dew--Disease, death, bondage, all the woes we see--And worse, the woes we see not--which throb throughThe immedicable soul, with heart-aches ever new.
Words in this poem
- gasp v. i.
- To open the mouth wide in catching the breath, or in laborious respiration; to labor for breath; to respire convulsively; to pant violently. [OE. gaspen, gaispen, to yawn, gasp, Icel. geispa to yawn; akin to Sw. gäspa, Dan. gispe to gasp.]
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
- unslaked a.
- Not slaked; unslacked; as, an unslaked thirst; unslaked lime.
- curst a.
- Froward; malignant; mischievous; malicious; snarling. [SeeCurse.]
- sable n.
- A carnivorous animal of the Weasel family (Mustela zibellina) native of the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America, -- noted for its fine, soft, and valuable fur. [OF. sable, F. zibeline sable (in sense 4), LL. sabellum; cf. D. sabel, Dan. sabel, zobel, Sw. sabel, sobel, G. zobel; all fr. Russ. sóbole.]
- recur v. i.
- To come back; to return again or repeatedly; to come again to mind. [L. recurrere; pref.re- re- + currere to run. See Current.]
- throb v. i.
- To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. [OE. ; of uncertain origin; cf. Russ. trepete a trembling, and E. trepidation.]
- immedicable a.
- Not to be healed; incurable. [L. Immedicabilis. See In- not, and Medicable.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto IV CXXVI 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 CXXVI, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iv-cxxvi.html, id L06620.
Form and metre
Canto IV CXXVI 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%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 26% 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 awayA · thirstB · decayA · firstB · curstB · sameC · worstB · nameC · flameC
- 2 ABABBCBCC lovedA · strongB · removedA · longB · wrongB · godC · alongB · rodC · trodC
- 3 ABABBCBCC inA · decreeB · sinA · treeB · beB · dewC · seeB · throughC · newC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| We wither from our youth, we gasp away-- | 10 | ·/˘·/···˘/ |
| Sick--sick; unfound the boon, unslaked the thirst, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Though to the last, in verge of our decay, | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| Some phantom lures, such as we sought at first-- | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But all too late,--so are we doubly curst. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Love, fame, ambition, avarice--'tis the same-- | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Each idle, and all ill, and none the worst-- | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| For all are meteors with a different name, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And death the sable smoke where vanishes the flame. | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| Few--none--find what they love or could have loved: | 10 | ·········· |
| Though accident, blind contact, and the strong | 10 | ·/˘˘·/···· |
| Necessity of loving, have removed | 10 | ˘/˘˘·/˘·˘/ |
| Antipathies--but to recur, ere long, | 10 | ˘/˘˘··˘/·· |
| Envenomed with irrevocable wrong; | 10 | ····˘/˘˘˘· |
| And Circumstance, that unspiritual god | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And miscreator, makes and helps along | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Our coming evils with a crutch-like rod, | 10 | //˘/˘····· |
| Whose touch turns hope to dust--the dust we all have trod. | 12 | ············ |
| Our life is a false nature--'tis not in | 10 | /····/˘··· |
| The harmony of things,--this hard decree, | 10 | ·/˘˘····˘/ |
| This uneradicable taint of sin, | 10 | ·········· |
| This boundless upas, this all-blasting tree, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Whose root is earth, whose leaves and branches be | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The skies which rain their plagues on men like dew-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Disease, death, bondage, all the woes we see-- | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| And worse, the woes we see not--which throb through | 10 | ·········· |
| The immedicable soul, with heart-aches ever new. | 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 8 [Circumstance is personified as halting Nemesis--"Pede poena claudo." Hor., Odes, III. ii. 32.
Perhaps, too, there is the underlying thought of his own lameness, of Mary Chaworth, and of all that might have been, if the "unspiritual God" had willed otherwise.] - Stanza 3, line 9 [Compare Milton's Samson Agonistes, lines 617-621--
"My griefs not only pain me As a lingering disease, But, finding no redress, ferment and rage; Nor less than wounds immedicable Rankle."]
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.