Stanzas Written in Passing the Ambracian Gulf.I
Through cloudless skies, in silvery sheen,Full beams the moon on Actium's coast:And on these waves, for Egypt's queen,The ancient world was won and lost.
And now upon the scene I look,The azure grave of many a Roman;Where stern Ambition once forsookHis wavering crown to follow Woman.
Florence! whom I will love as well(As ever yet was said or sung,Since Orpheus sang his spouse from Hell)Whilst thou art fair and I am young;
Sweet Florence! those were pleasant times,When worlds were staked for Ladies' eyes:Had bards as many realms as rhymes,jThy charms might raise new Antonies.k
Though Fate forbids such things to be,lYet, by thine eyes and ringlets curled!I cannot lose a world for thee,But would not lose thee for a World.
Words in this poem
- cloudless a.
- Without a cloud; clear; bright.
- sheen v. i.
- To shine; to glisten.
- orpheus n.
- The famous mythic Thracian poet, son of the Muse Calliope, and husband of Eurydice. He is reputed to have had power to entrance beasts and inanimate objects by the music of his lyre.
- spouse v. t.
- To wed; to espouse. [See Espouse, and Spouse, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Stanzas Written in Passing the Ambracian Gulf.I 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, Stanzas Written in Passing the Ambracian Gulf.I, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/stanzas-written-in-passing-the-ambracian-gulf-i.html, id L23829.
Form and metre
Stanzas Written in Passing the Ambracian Gulf.I is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 A-A- sheenA · coast · queenA · lost
- 2 A-A- lookA · roman · forsookA · woman
- 3 ABAB wellA · sungB · hellA · youngB
- 5 -A-A be,l · curledA · thee · worldA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Through cloudless skies, in silvery sheen, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Full beams the moon on Actium's coast: | 8 | ········ |
| And on these waves, for Egypt's queen, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The ancient world was won and lost. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And now upon the scene I look, | 8 | ········ |
| The azure grave of many a Roman; | 9 | ·/˘··/·/˘ |
| Where stern Ambition once forsook | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| His wavering crown to follow Woman. | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Florence! whom I will love as well | 8 | /˘······ |
| (As ever yet was said or sung, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Since Orpheus sang his spouse from Hell) | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Whilst thou art fair and I am young; | 8 | ········ |
| Sweet Florence! those were pleasant times, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When worlds were staked for Ladies' eyes: | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Had bards as many realms as rhymes,j | 8 | ···/···· |
| Thy charms might raise new Antonies.k | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| Though Fate forbids such things to be,l | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| Yet, by thine eyes and ringlets curled! | 8 | ········ |
| I cannot lose a world for thee, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But would not lose thee for a World. | 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.