Poem VI
Fair, as the first that fell of womankind,When on that dread yet lovely serpent smiling,Whose Image then was stamped upon her mind--But once beguiled--and ever more beguiling;Dazzling, as that, oh! too transcendent visionTo Sorrow's phantom-peopled slumber given,When heart meets heart again in dreams Elysian,And paints the lost on Earth revived in Heaven;Soft, as the memory of buried love;Pure, as the prayer which Childhood wafts above;Was she--the daughter of that rude old Chief,Who met the maid with tears--but not of grief.
Who hath not proved how feebly words essayTo fix one spark of Beauty's heavenly ray?Who doth not feel, until his failing sightflFaints into dimness with its own delight,His changing cheek, his sinking heart confessThe might--the majesty of Loveliness?Such was Zuleika--such around her shoneThe nameless charms unmarked by her alone--The light of Love, the purity of Grace,fmThe mind, the Music breathing from her face,The heart whose softness harmonized the whole,And oh! that eye was in itself a Soul!
Her graceful arms in meekness bendingAcross her gently-budding breast;At one kind word those arms extendingTo clasp the neck of him who blestHis child caressing and carest,Zuleika came--and Giaffir feltHis purpose half within him melt:Not that against her fancied wealHis heart though stern could ever feel;Affection chained her to that heart;Ambition tore the links apart.
Words in this poem
- womankind n.
- The females of the human race; women, collectively.
- beguiling a.
- Alluring by guile; deluding; misleading; diverting.
- peopled a.
- Stocked with, or as with, people; inhabited.
- elysian a.
- Pertaining, or the abode of the blessed after death; hence, yielding the highest pleasures; exceedingly delightful; beatific. [L. Elysius, fr. Elysium.]
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- nameless a.
- Without a name; not having been given a name; as, a nameless star.
- meekness n.
- The quality or state of being meek.
- tore n.
- The dead grass that remains on mowing land in winter and spring. Mortimer. [Probably from the root of tear; cf. W. tór a break, cut, tóri to break, cut.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poem VI 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, Poem VI, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/poem-vi.html, id L23871.
Form and metre
Poem VI is 35 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 ABAB----CCDD womankindA · smilingB · mindA · beguilingB · vision · given · elysian · heaven · loveC · aboveC · chiefD · griefD
- 2 AA--BBCC--DD essayA · rayA · sightfl · delight · confessB · lovelinessB · shoneC · aloneC · grace,fm · face · wholeD · soulD
- 3 ABABBCCDDEE bendingA · breastB · extendingA · blestB · carestB · feltC · meltC · wealD · feelD · heartE · apartE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fair, as the first that fell of womankind, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| When on that dread yet lovely serpent smiling, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Whose Image then was stamped upon her mind-- | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But once beguiled--and ever more beguiling; | 11 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Dazzling, as that, oh! too transcendent vision | 11 | /˘····˘/˘/˘ |
| To Sorrow's phantom-peopled slumber given, | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| When heart meets heart again in dreams Elysian, | 11 | ····˘/··˘/˘ |
| And paints the lost on Earth revived in Heaven; | 11 | ······˘/·/˘ |
| Soft, as the memory of buried love; | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Pure, as the prayer which Childhood wafts above; | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Was she--the daughter of that rude old Chief, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Who met the maid with tears--but not of grief. | 10 | ·········· |
| Who hath not proved how feebly words essay | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| To fix one spark of Beauty's heavenly ray? | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Who doth not feel, until his failing sightfl | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Faints into dimness with its own delight, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| His changing cheek, his sinking heart confess | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| The might--the majesty of Loveliness? | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Such was Zuleika--such around her shone | 10 | ·········· |
| The nameless charms unmarked by her alone-- | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| The light of Love, the purity of Grace,fm | 11 | ·····/˘··// |
| The mind, the Music breathing from her face, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The heart whose softness harmonized the whole, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And oh! that eye was in itself a Soul! | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Her graceful arms in meekness bending | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Across her gently-budding breast; | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| At one kind word those arms extending | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| To clasp the neck of him who blest | 8 | ········ |
| His child caressing and carest, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Zuleika came--and Giaffir felt | 8 | ········ |
| His purpose half within him melt: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Not that against her fancied weal | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| His heart though stern could ever feel; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Affection chained her to that heart; | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Ambition tore the links apart. | 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.