Canto IV LXXVIII
Aught that recalls the daily drug which turnedMy sickening memory; and, though Time hath taughtMy mind to meditate what then it learned,Yet such the fixed inveteracy wroughtBy the impatience of my early thought,That, with the freshness wearing out beforeMy mind could relish what it might have sought,If free to choose, I cannot now restoreIts health; but what it then detested, still abhor.
Then farewell, Horace; whom I hated so,Not for thy faults, but mine; it is a curseTo understand, not feel, thy lyric flow,To comprehend, but never love thy verse,Although no deeper moralist rehearseOur little life, nor bard prescribe his art,Nor livelier satirist the conscience pierce,Awakening without wounding the touched heart,Yet fare thee well--upon Soracte's ridge we part.
O Rome! my country! city of the soul!The orphans of the heart must turn to thee,Lone mother of dead empires! and controlIn their shut breasts their petty misery.What are our woes and sufferance? Come and seeThe cypress, hear the owl, and plod your wayO'er steps of broken thrones and temples, Ye!Whose agonies are evils of a day--A world is at our feet as fragile as our clay.
Words in this poem
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- sickening a.
- Causing sickness; specif., causing surfeit or disgust; nauseating.
- abhor v. i.
- To shrink back with horror, disgust, or dislike; to be contrary or averse; -- with from.
- moralist n.
- One who moralizes; one who teaches or animadverts upon the duties of life; a writer of essays intended to correct vice and inculcate moral duties. [Cf. F. moraliste.]
- prescribe v. t.
- To lay down authoritatively as a guide, direction, or rule of action; to impose as a peremptory order; to dictate; to appoint; to direct. [L. praescribere, praescriptum; prae before + scriebe to write. See Scribe.]
- satirist n.
- One who satirizes; especially, one who writes satire. [Cf. F. satiriste.]
- conscience n.
- Knowledge of one's own thoughts or actions; consciousness. [F. conscience, fr. L. conscientia, fr. consciens, p.pr. of conscire to know, to be conscious; con- + scire to know. See Science.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- sufferance n.
- The state of suffering; the bearing of pain; endurance. [OE. suffrance, OF. sufrance, soufrance, F. souffrance, L. sufferentia, from sufferens, -entis, p.pr. of sufferre. See Suffer.]
- plod v. i.
- To travel slowly but steadily; to trudge. [Gf. Gael. plod a clod, a pool; also, to strike or pelt with a clod or clods.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto IV LXXVIII 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 LXXVIII, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iv-lxxviii.html, id L06604.
Form and metre
Canto IV LXXVIII 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%). 92% 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 turnedA · taughtB · learnedA · wroughtB · thoughtB · beforeC · soughtB · restoreC · abhorC
- 2 ABABBCBCC soA · curseB · flowA · verseB · rehearseB · artC · pierceB · heartC · partC
- 3 ABABBCBCC soulA · theeB · controlA · miseryB · seeB · wayC · yeB · dayC · clayC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Aught that recalls the daily drug which turned | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| My sickening memory; and, though Time hath taught | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| My mind to meditate what then it learned, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Yet such the fixed inveteracy wrought | 10 | ····˘/˘˘˘· |
| By the impatience of my early thought, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| That, with the freshness wearing out before | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| My mind could relish what it might have sought, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| If free to choose, I cannot now restore | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Its health; but what it then detested, still abhor. | 12 | ······˘/˘·˘/ |
| Then farewell, Horace; whom I hated so, | 10 | ··//˘··/˘· |
| Not for thy faults, but mine; it is a curse | 10 | ·········· |
| To understand, not feel, thy lyric flow, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| To comprehend, but never love thy verse, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Although no deeper moralist rehearse | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Our little life, nor bard prescribe his art, | 10 | //˘···˘/·· |
| Nor livelier satirist the conscience pierce, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Awakening without wounding the touched heart, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Yet fare thee well--upon Soracte's ridge we part. | 11 | ··········· |
| O Rome! my country! city of the soul! | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The orphans of the heart must turn to thee, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Lone mother of dead empires! and control | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| In their shut breasts their petty misery. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| What are our woes and sufferance? Come and see | 11 | ··/··/˘˘··· |
| The cypress, hear the owl, and plod your way | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| O'er steps of broken thrones and temples, Ye! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Whose agonies are evils of a day-- | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| A world is at our feet as fragile as our clay. | 12 | ····/··/˘·/· |
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.