Napoleon's Farewell
Farewell to the Land, where the gloom of my GloryArose and o'ershadowed the earth with her name--She abandons me now--but the page of her story,The brightest or blackest, is filled with my fame.noI have warred with a World which vanquished me onlyWhen the meteor of conquest allured me too far;I have coped with the nations which dread me thus lonely,The last single Captive to millions in war.
Farewell to thee, France! when thy diadem crowned me,I made thee the gem and the wonder of earth,--But thy weakness decrees I should leave as I found thee,npDecayed in thy glory, and sunk in thy worth.Oh! for the veteran hearts that were wastedIn strife with the storm, when their battles were won--Then the Eagle, whose gaze in that moment was blastedHad still soared with eyes fixed on Victory's sun!nq
Farewell to thee, France!--but when Liberty ralliesOnce more in thy regions, remember me then,--The Violet still grows in the depth of thy valleys;Though withered, thy tear will unfold it again--Yet, yet, I may baffle the hosts that surround us,And yet may thy heart leap awake to my voice--There are links which must break in the chain that has bound us,Then turn thee and call on the Chief of thy choice!
Words in this poem
- coped a.
- Clad in a cope.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- blasted a.
- Blighted; withered.
- baffle v. i.
- To cause to undergo a disgraceful punishment, as a recreant knight. [Cf. Lowland Scotch bauchle to treat contemptuously, bauch tasteless, abashed, jaded, Icel. bagr uneasy, poor, or bagr, n., struggle, bægja to push, treat harshl]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Napoleon's Farewell 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, Napoleon's Farewell, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/napoleon-s-farewell.html, id L23978.
Form and metre
Napoleon's Farewell is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 A-A-B-B- gloryA · name · storyA · fame.no · onlyB · far · lonelyB · war
- 2 -A-A---- me · earthA · thee,np · worthA · wasted · won · blasted · sun!nq
- 3 ABABCDCD ralliesA · thenB · valleysA · againB · usC · voiceD · usC · choiceD
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Farewell to the Land, where the gloom of my Glory | 12 | ·/········/˘ |
| Arose and o'ershadowed the earth with her name-- | 11 | ˘/········· |
| She abandons me now--but the page of her story, | 13 | ·˘/˘·······/˘ |
| The brightest or blackest, is filled with my fame.no | 12 | ·/˘·/˘······ |
| I have warred with a World which vanquished me only | 12 | ·······/˘·/˘ |
| When the meteor of conquest allured me too far; | 12 | ··/˘·/˘˘/··· |
| I have coped with the nations which dread me thus lonely, | 13 | ·····/˘····/˘ |
| The last single Captive to millions in war. | 11 | ··/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| Farewell to thee, France! when thy diadem crowned me, | 12 | ·/·····/˘··· |
| I made thee the gem and the wonder of earth,-- | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| But thy weakness decrees I should leave as I found thee,np | 14 | ··/˘˘/········ |
| Decayed in thy glory, and sunk in thy worth. | 11 | ˘/··/˘····· |
| Oh! for the veteran hearts that were wasted | 11 | ···/˘˘···/˘ |
| In strife with the storm, when their battles were won-- | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Then the Eagle, whose gaze in that moment was blasted | 13 | ··/˘····/˘·/˘ |
| Had still soared with eyes fixed on Victory's sun!nq | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Farewell to thee, France!--but when Liberty rallies | 12 | ·/·····/˘˘/˘ |
| Once more in thy regions, remember me then,-- | 11 | ····/˘˘/˘·· |
| The Violet still grows in the depth of thy valleys; | 12 | ·/˘·······/˘ |
| Though withered, thy tear will unfold it again-- | 11 | ·/˘···˘/·˘/ |
| Yet, yet, I may baffle the hosts that surround us, | 12 | ····/˘···˘/· |
| And yet may thy heart leap awake to my voice-- | 11 | ······˘/··· |
| There are links which must break in the chain that has bound us, | 13 | ············· |
| Then turn thee and call on the Chief of thy choice! | 11 | ··········· |
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.