Canto IV LXVI
The Earth to them was as a rolling barkWhich bore them to Eternity; they sawThe Ocean round, but had no time to markThe motions of their vessel: Nature's law,In them suspended, recked not of the aweWhich reigns when mountains tremble, and the birdsPlunge in the clouds for refuge, and withdrawFrom their down-toppling nests; and bellowing herdsStumble o'er heaving plains, and man's dread hath no words.
Far other scene is Thrasimene now;Her lake a sheet of silver, and her plainRent by no ravage save the gentle plough;Her aged trees rise thick as once the slainLay where their roots are; but a brook hath ta'en--A little rill of scanty stream and bed--A name of blood from that day's sanguine rain;And Sanguinetto tells ye where the deadMade the earth wet, and turned the unwilling waters red.
But thou, Clitumnus! in thy sweetest waveOf the most living crystal that was e'erThe haunt of river nymph, to gaze and laveHer limbs where nothing hid them, thou dost rearThy grassy banks whereon the milk-white steerGrazes; the purest god of gentle waters!And most serene of aspect, and most clear:Surely that stream was unprofaned by slaughters,A mirror and a bath for Beauty's youngest daughters!
Words in this poem
- rill n.
- A very small brook; a streamlet. [Cf. LG. rille a small channel or brook, a furrow, a chamfer, OE. rigol a small brook, F. rigole a trench or furrow for water, W. rhill a row, rhigol a little di]
- lave v. t.
- To lade, dip, or pour out. [OE. laven. See Lavish.]
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto IV LXVI 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 LXVI, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iv-lxvi.html, id L06600.
Form and metre
Canto IV LXVI 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 87%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 56% 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 barkA · sawB · markA · lawB · aweB · birdsC · withdrawB · herdsC · wordsC
- 2 ABABBCBCC nowA · plainB · ploughA · slainB · ta'enB · bedC · rainB · deadC · redC
- 3 ABABBCBCC waveA · e'erB · laveA · rearB · steerB · watersC · clearB · slaughtersC · daughtersC
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 Earth to them was as a rolling bark | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Which bore them to Eternity; they saw | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| The Ocean round, but had no time to mark | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The motions of their vessel: Nature's law, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| In them suspended, recked not of the awe | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Which reigns when mountains tremble, and the birds | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Plunge in the clouds for refuge, and withdraw | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| From their down-toppling nests; and bellowing herds | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Stumble o'er heaving plains, and man's dread hath no words. | 12 | /˘·/˘······· |
| Far other scene is Thrasimene now; | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Her lake a sheet of silver, and her plain | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Rent by no ravage save the gentle plough; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Her aged trees rise thick as once the slain | 9 | ········· |
| Lay where their roots are; but a brook hath ta'en-- | 10 | ·········· |
| A little rill of scanty stream and bed-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| A name of blood from that day's sanguine rain; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And Sanguinetto tells ye where the dead | 10 | ·········· |
| Made the earth wet, and turned the unwilling waters red. | 13 | ·······˘/˘/˘· |
| But thou, Clitumnus! in thy sweetest wave | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of the most living crystal that was e'er | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The haunt of river nymph, to gaze and lave | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Her limbs where nothing hid them, thou dost rear | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thy grassy banks whereon the milk-white steer | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Grazes; the purest god of gentle waters! | 11 | /˘·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And most serene of aspect, and most clear: | 10 | ··˘/·/···· |
| Surely that stream was unprofaned by slaughters, | 11 | /˘·······/˘ |
| A mirror and a bath for Beauty's youngest daughters! | 13 | ·/˘····/˘/˘/˘ |
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 3, line 1 No book of travels has omitted to expatiate on the temple of the Clitumnus, between Foligno and Spoleto; and no site, or scenery, even in Italy, is more worthy a description. For an account of the dilapidation of this temple, the reader is referred to Historical Illustrations of the Fourth Canto of Childe Harold, p. 35.
- Stanza 3, line 5 [Compare Virgil, Georg., ii. 146--
"Hinc albi, Clitumne, greges et maxuma taurus Victima, saepe tuo perfusi flumine sacro."
The waters of certain rivers were supposed to possess the quality of making the cattle which drank from them white. (See Pliny, Hist. Nat., ii. 103; and compare Silius Italicus, Pun., iv. 545, 546--
" ...et patulis Clitumnus in arvis Candentes gelido perfundit flumine tauros.")
For a charming description of Clitumnus, see Pliny's letter "Romano Suo," Epist., viii. 8: "At the foot of a little hill covered with old and shady cypress trees, gushes out a spring, which bursts out into a number of streamlets, all of different sizes. Having struggled, so to speak, out of its confinement, it opens out into a broad basin, so clear and transparent, that you may count the pebbles and little pieces of money which are thrown into it.... The banks are clothed with an abundance of ash and poplar, which are so distinctly reflected in the clear water that they seem to be growing at the bottom of the river, and can easily be counted.... Near it stands an ancient and venerable temple, in which is a statue of the river-god Clitumnus."--Pliny's Letters, by the Rev. A. Church and the Rev. W. J. Brodribb, 1872, p. 127.]
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