Poem VIII
In silence bowed the virgin's head;And if her eye was filled with tearsThat stifled feeling dare not shed,And changed her cheek from pale to red,And red to pale, as through her earsThose winged words like arrows sped,What could such be but maiden fears?So bright the tear in Beauty's eye,Love half regrets to kiss it dry;So sweet the blush of Bashfulness,Even Pity scarce can wish it less!
Whate'er it was the sire forgot:Or if remembered, marked it not;Thrice clapped his hands, and called his steed,Resigned his gem-adorned chibouque,And mounting featly for the mead,With Maugrabeel and Mamaluke,His way amid his Delis took,To witness many an active deedWith sabre keen, or blunt jerreed.The Kislar only and his MoorsWatch well the Haram's massy doors.
Words in this poem
- bashfulness n.
- The quality of being bashful.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- resigned a.
- Submissive; yielding; not disposed to resist or murmur.
- chibouque n.
- A Turkish pipe, usually with a mouthpiece of amber, a stem, four or five feet long and not pliant, of some valuable wood, and a bowl of baked clay. [F. chibouque, fr. Turk.]
- featly adv.
- Neatly; dexterously; nimbly. [From Feat, a.]
- amid 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]
- sabre n.
- A sword with a broad and heavy blade, thick at the back, and usually more or less curved like a scimiter; a cavalry sword. Saber fish, or Sabre fish (Zoöl.), the cutlass fish.
- massy a.
- Compacted into, or consisting of, a mass; having bulk and weight ot substance; ponderous; bulky and heavy; weight; heavy; as, a massy shield; a massy rock.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poem VIII 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 VIII, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/poem-viii.html, id L23873.
Form and metre
Poem VIII is 22 lines in 2 stanzas of 11 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABAABABCCDD headA · tearsB · shedA · redA · earsB · spedA · fearsB · eyeC · dryC · bashfulnessD · lessD
- 2 AABCBC-BB-- forgotA · notA · steedB · chibouqueC · meadB · mamalukeC · took · deedB · jerreedB · moors · doors
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In silence bowed the virgin's head; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And if her eye was filled with tears | 8 | ········ |
| That stifled feeling dare not shed, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And changed her cheek from pale to red, | 8 | ········ |
| And red to pale, as through her ears | 8 | ········ |
| Those winged words like arrows sped, | 8 | ··˘··/˘· |
| What could such be but maiden fears? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So bright the tear in Beauty's eye, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Love half regrets to kiss it dry; | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| So sweet the blush of Bashfulness, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Even Pity scarce can wish it less! | 8 | //˘····· |
| Whate'er it was the sire forgot: | 9 | ˘˘/···/˘/ |
| Or if remembered, marked it not; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Thrice clapped his hands, and called his steed, | 8 | ········ |
| Resigned his gem-adorned chibouque, | 8 | ˘/··˘/·· |
| And mounting featly for the mead, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| With Maugrabeel and Mamaluke, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| His way amid his Delis took, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| To witness many an active deed | 8 | ·/˘/·/˘· |
| With sabre keen, or blunt jerreed. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| The Kislar only and his Moors | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Watch well the Haram's massy doors. | 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.