Canto II: Ge XXI
"His head and faith from doubt and deathReturned in time my guard to save;Few heard, none told, that o'er the waveFrom isle to isle I roved the while:And since, though parted from my bandToo seldom now I leave the land,No deed they've done, nor deed shall do,Ere I have heard and doomed it too:I form the plan--decree the spoil--Tis fit I oftener share the toil.But now too long I've held thine ear;Time presses--floats my bark--and hereWe leave behind but hate and fear.To-morrow Osman with his trainArrives--to-night must break thy chain:And would'st thou save that haughty Bey,--Perchance his life who gave thee thine,--With me this hour away--away!But yet, though thou art plighted mine,Would'st thou recall thy willing vow,Appalled by truths imparted now,Here rest I--not to see thee wed:But be that peril on my head!"
Words in this poem
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- 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,]
- haughty a.
- High; lofty; bold. [OE. hautein, F. hautain, fr. haut high, OF. also halt, fr. L. altus. See Altitude.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto II: Ge XXI is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 3, Project Gutenberg ebook #21811; 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 II: Ge XXI, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/canto-ii-ge-xxi.html, id L23892.
Form and metre
Canto II: Ge XXI is 23 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 -AA-BBCCDDEEEFFGHGHIIJJ death · saveA · waveA · while · bandB · landB · doC · tooC · spoilD · toilD · earE · hereE · fearE · trainF · chainF · beyG · thineH · awayG · mineH · vowI · nowI · wedJ · headJ
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| "His head and faith from doubt and death | 8 | ········ |
| Returned in time my guard to save; | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Few heard, none told, that o'er the wave | 8 | ········ |
| From isle to isle I roved the while: | 8 | ········ |
| And since, though parted from my band | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Too seldom now I leave the land, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| No deed they've done, nor deed shall do, | 8 | ········ |
| Ere I have heard and doomed it too: | 8 | ········ |
| I form the plan--decree the spoil-- | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Tis fit I oftener share the toil. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But now too long I've held thine ear; | 8 | ········ |
| Time presses--floats my bark--and here | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| We leave behind but hate and fear. | 8 | ········ |
| To-morrow Osman with his train | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Arrives--to-night must break thy chain: | 8 | ˘/······ |
| And would'st thou save that haughty Bey,-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Perchance his life who gave thee thine,-- | 8 | ˘/······ |
| With me this hour away--away! | 8 | ···/˘/˘/ |
| But yet, though thou art plighted mine, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Would'st thou recall thy willing vow, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Appalled by truths imparted now, | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘· |
| Here rest I--not to see thee wed: | 8 | ········ |
| But be that peril on my head!" | 8 | ···/˘··· |
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.