Canto IV XXVII
But my soul wanders; I demand it backTo meditate amongst decay, and standA ruin amidst ruins; there to trackFall'n states and buried greatness, o'er a landWhich WAS the mightiest in its old command,And IS the loveliest, and must ever beThe master-mould of Nature's heavenly hand,Wherein were cast the heroic and the free,The beautiful, the brave--the lords of earth and sea.
The commonwealth of kings, the men of Rome!And even since, and now, fair Italy!Thou art the garden of the world, the homeOf all Art yields, and Nature can decree;Even in thy desert, what is like to thee?Thy very weeds are beautiful, thy wasteMore rich than other climes' fertility;Thy wreck a glory, and thy ruin gracedWith an immaculate charm which cannot be defaced.
The moon is up, and yet it is not night--Sunset divides the sky with her--a seaOf glory streams along the Alpine heightOf blue Friuli's mountains; Heaven is freeFrom clouds, but of all colours seems to be--Melted to one vast Iris of the West,Where the day joins the past eternity;While, on the other hand, meek Dian's crestFloats through the azure air--an island of the blest!
Words in this poem
- amongst prep.
- Mixed or mingled; surrounded by. [OE. amongist, amonges, amonge, among, AS. onmang, ongemang, gemang, in a crowd or mixture. For the ending -st see Amidst. See Mingle.]
- amidst prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
- commonwealth n.
- A state; a body politic consisting of a certain number of men, united, by compact or tacit agreement, under one form of government and system of laws. [Common + wealth well-being.]
- graced a.
- Endowed with grace; beautiful; full of graces; honorable.
- immaculate a.
- Without stain or blemish; spotless; undefiled; clear; pure. [L. immaculatus; pref. im- not + maculatus, p. p. of maculare to spot, stane, fr. macula spot. See Mail armor.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto IV XXVII 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 XXVII, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iv-xxvii.html, id L06587.
Form and metre
Canto IV XXVII 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%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 3 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 backA · standB · trackA · landB · commandB · beC · handB · freeC · seaC
- 2 ABABBCBCC romeA · italyB · homeA · decreeB · theeB · wasteC · fertilityB · gracedC · defacedC
- 3 ABABBCBCC nightA · seaB · heightA · freeB · beB · westC · eternityB · crestC · blestC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| But my soul wanders; I demand it back | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| To meditate amongst decay, and stand | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| A ruin amidst ruins; there to track | 10 | ·/˘˘//˘··· |
| Fall'n states and buried greatness, o'er a land | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Which WAS the mightiest in its old command, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And IS the loveliest, and must ever be | 10 | ········/· |
| The master-mould of Nature's heavenly hand, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Wherein were cast the heroic and the free, | 11 | ·····˘/˘··· |
| The beautiful, the brave--the lords of earth and sea. | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| The commonwealth of kings, the men of Rome! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And even since, and now, fair Italy! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Thou art the garden of the world, the home | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of all Art yields, and Nature can decree; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Even in thy desert, what is like to thee? | 10 | /··˘/····· |
| Thy very weeds are beautiful, thy waste | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| More rich than other climes' fertility; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Thy wreck a glory, and thy ruin graced | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| With an immaculate charm which cannot be defaced. | 12 | ··˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| The moon is up, and yet it is not night-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Sunset divides the sky with her--a sea | 10 | /·˘/······ |
| Of glory streams along the Alpine height | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/·· |
| Of blue Friuli's mountains; Heaven is free | 10 | ····/˘/˘·· |
| From clouds, but of all colours seems to be-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Melted to one vast Iris of the West, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Where the day joins the past eternity; | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| While, on the other hand, meek Dian's crest | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Floats through the azure air--an island of the blest! | 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 3, line 4 ["Friuli's mountains" are the Julian Alps, which lie to the north of Trieste and north-east of Venice, "the hoar and aery Alps towards the north," which Julian and Count Maddalo (vide post, p. 349) saw from the Lido. But the Alpine height along which "a sea of glory" streamed--"the peak of the far Rhaetian hill" (stanza xxviii. line 4)--must lie to the westward of Venice, in the track of the setting sun.]
- Stanza 3, line 9 The above description may seem fantastical or exaggerated to those who have never seen an Oriental or an Italian sky; yet it is but a literal and hardly sufficient delineation of an August evening (the eighteenth), as contemplated in one of many rides along the banks of the Brenta, near La Mira.
[Compare Shelley's Julian and Maddalo (Poetical Works, 1895, i. 343)--
"How beautiful is sunset, when the glow Of Heaven descends upon a land like thee, Thou Paradise of exiles, Italy! * * * * * ... We stood Looking upon the evening, and the flood, Which lay between the city and the shore, Paved with the image of the sky ... the hoar And aery Alps towards the north appeared, Thro' mist, an heaven-sustaining bulwark reared Between the East and West; and half the sky Was roofed with clouds of rich emblazonry, Dark purple at the zenith, which still grew Down the steep West into a wondrous hue, Brighter than burning gold."]
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