On the Star of "The Legion of Honour"
Star of the brave!--whose beam hath shedSuch glory o'er the quick and dead--Thou radiant and adored deceit!Which millions rushed in arms to greet,--Wild meteor of immortal birth!Why rise in Heaven to set on Earth?
Souls of slain heroes formed thy rays;Eternity flashed through thy blaze;The music of thy martial sphereWas fame on high and honour here;And thy light broke on human eyes,Like a Volcano of the skies.
Like lava rolled thy stream of blood,And swept down empires with its flood;Earth rocked beneath thee to her base,As thou didst lighten through all space;And the shorn Sun grew dim in air,And set while thou wert dwelling there.
Before thee rose, and with thee grew,A rainbow of the loveliest hueOf three bright colours, each divine,And fit for that celestial sign;For Freedom's hand had blended them,Like tints in an immortal gem.
One tint was of the sunbeam's dyes;One, the blue depth of Seraph's eyes;One, the pure Spirit's veil of whiteHad robed in radiance of its light:The three so mingled did beseemThe texture of a heavenly dream.
Star of the brave! thy ray is pale,And darkness must again prevail!But, oh thou Rainbow of the free!Our tears and blood must flow for thee.When thy bright promise fades away,Our life is but a load of clay.
And Freedom hallows with her treadThe silent cities of the dead;For beautiful in death are theyWho proudly fall in her array;And soon, oh, Goddess! may we beFor evermore with them or thee!
Words in this poem
- rushed a.
- Abounding or covered with rushes.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- beseem v. i.
- To seem; to appear; to be fitting.
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Star of "The Legion of Honour" 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, On the Star of "The Legion of Honour", in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/on-the-star-of-the-legion-of-honour.html, id L23982.
Form and metre
On the Star of "The Legion of Honour" is 42 lines in 7 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 AABBCC shedA · deadA · deceitB · greetB · birthC · earthC
- 2 AABBCC raysA · blazeA · sphereB · hereB · eyesC · skiesC
- 3 AABBCC bloodA · floodA · baseB · spaceB · airC · thereC
- 4 AABBCC grewA · hueA · divineB · signB · themC · gemC
- 5 AABBCC dyesA · eyesA · whiteB · lightB · beseemC · dreamC
- 6 AABBCC paleA · prevailA · freeB · theeB · awayC · clayC
- 7 AABBCC treadA · deadA · theyB · arrayB · beC · theeC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Star of the brave!--whose beam hath shed | 8 | ········ |
| Such glory o'er the quick and dead-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thou radiant and adored deceit! | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘/ |
| Which millions rushed in arms to greet,-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Wild meteor of immortal birth! | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Why rise in Heaven to set on Earth? | 8 | ···/···· |
| Souls of slain heroes formed thy rays; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Eternity flashed through thy blaze; | 8 | ˘/˘˘···· |
| The music of thy martial sphere | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Was fame on high and honour here; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And thy light broke on human eyes, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Like a Volcano of the skies. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Like lava rolled thy stream of blood, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And swept down empires with its flood; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Earth rocked beneath thee to her base, | 8 | ········ |
| As thou didst lighten through all space; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And the shorn Sun grew dim in air, | 8 | ········ |
| And set while thou wert dwelling there. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Before thee rose, and with thee grew, | 8 | ········ |
| A rainbow of the loveliest hue | 9 | ·/······· |
| Of three bright colours, each divine, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And fit for that celestial sign; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| For Freedom's hand had blended them, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Like tints in an immortal gem. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| One tint was of the sunbeam's dyes; | 8 | ·····/·· |
| One, the blue depth of Seraph's eyes; | 8 | ········ |
| One, the pure Spirit's veil of white | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Had robed in radiance of its light: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The three so mingled did beseem | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The texture of a heavenly dream. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Star of the brave! thy ray is pale, | 8 | ········ |
| And darkness must again prevail! | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘/ |
| But, oh thou Rainbow of the free! | 8 | ···/···· |
| Our tears and blood must flow for thee. | 8 | /······· |
| When thy bright promise fades away, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Our life is but a load of clay. | 8 | /······· |
| And Freedom hallows with her tread | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The silent cities of the dead; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| For beautiful in death are they | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Who proudly fall in her array; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And soon, oh, Goddess! may we be | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For evermore with them or thee! | 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.