Canto IV CXXXVIII
From mighty wrongs to petty perfidyHave I not seen what human things could do?From the loud roar of foaming calumnyTo the small whisper of the as paltry fewAnd subtler venom of the reptile crew,The Janus glance of whose significant eye,Learning to lie with silence, would SEEM true,And without utterance, save the shrug or sigh,Deal round to happy fools its speechless obloquy.
But I have lived, and have not lived in vain:My mind may lose its force, my blood its fire,And my frame perish even in conquering pain,But there is that within me which shall tireTorture and Time, and breathe when I expire:Something unearthly, which they deem not of,Like the remembered tone of a mute lyre,Shall on their softened spirits sink, and moveIn hearts all rocky now the late remorse of love.
The seal is set.--Now welcome, thou dread PowerNameless, yet thus omnipotent, which hereWalk'st in the shadow of the midnight hourWith a deep awe, yet all distinct from fear:Thy haunts are ever where the dead walls rearTheir ivy mantles, and the solemn sceneDerives from thee a sense so deep and clearThat we become a part of what has been,And grow unto the spot, all-seeing but unseen.
Words in this poem
- perfidy n.
- The act of violating faith or allegiance; violation of a promise or vow, or of trust reposed; faithlessness; teachery. [L. perfidia, fr. L. perfidus faithless; per (cf. Skr. para away) + fides faith: cf. F. perfidie. See Faith.]
- shrug v. t.
- To draw up or contract (the shoulders), especially by way of expressing dislike, dread, doubt, or the like. [Probably akin to shrink, p. p. shrunk; cf. Dan. skrugge, skrukke, to stoop, dial. Sw. skrukka, skruga, to crouch.]
- speechless a.
- Destitute or deprived of the faculty of speech.
- obloquy n.
- Censorious speech; defamatory language; language that casts contempt on men or their actions; blame; reprehension. [L. obloquium, fr. obloqui. See Oblocutor.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- unearthly a.
- Not terrestrial; supernatural; preternatural; hence, weird; appalling; terrific; as, an unearthly sight or sound.
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- nameless a.
- Without a name; not having been given a name; as, a nameless star.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto IV CXXXVIII 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 CXXXVIII, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iv-cxxxviii.html, id L06624.
Form and metre
Canto IV CXXXVIII 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 84%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 41% 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 perfidyA · doB · calumnyA · fewB · crewB · eyeC · trueB · sighC · obloquyC
- 2 ABABBCBCC vainA · fireB · painA · tireB · expireB · ofC · lyreB · moveC · loveC
- 3 ABABBCBCC powerA · hereB · hourA · fearB · rearB · sceneC · clearB · beenC · unseenC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| From mighty wrongs to petty perfidy | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| Have I not seen what human things could do? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| From the loud roar of foaming calumny | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| To the small whisper of the as paltry few | 11 | ···/˘···/˘· |
| And subtler venom of the reptile crew, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| The Janus glance of whose significant eye, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Learning to lie with silence, would SEEM true, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| And without utterance, save the shrug or sigh, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Deal round to happy fools its speechless obloquy. | 12 | ···/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| But I have lived, and have not lived in vain: | 10 | ·········· |
| My mind may lose its force, my blood its fire, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| And my frame perish even in conquering pain, | 10 | ···/˘/·/˘· |
| But there is that within me which shall tire | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Torture and Time, and breathe when I expire: | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| Something unearthly, which they deem not of, | 10 | /˘˘/˘····· |
| Like the remembered tone of a mute lyre, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Shall on their softened spirits sink, and move | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| In hearts all rocky now the late remorse of love. | 12 | ···/˘···˘/·· |
| The seal is set.--Now welcome, thou dread Power | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Nameless, yet thus omnipotent, which here | 10 | /˘··˘/˘˘·· |
| Walk'st in the shadow of the midnight hour | 11 | ···/···/·/˘ |
| With a deep awe, yet all distinct from fear: | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Thy haunts are ever where the dead walls rear | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Their ivy mantles, and the solemn scene | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Derives from thee a sense so deep and clear | 10 | ˘/········ |
| That we become a part of what has been, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| And grow unto the spot, all-seeing but unseen. | 11 | ·······/·˘/ |
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 1, line 6 [Compare "Lines on hearing that Lady Byron was ill," lines 53-55.]
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