Lord Byron tells how Childe Harold viewed the rise and fall of Napoleon “Conqueror and captive of the earth art thou!…..A god unto thyself ; not less the same to the astonished kingdoms all inert…”. He acknowledges that “An empire thou couldst crush, command , rebuild, but govern not thy pettiest passion…”. Childe concludes “”Tis [...]
Lord Byron ,alias Childe Harold, on his second visit abroad, first stops off at the battlefield of Waterloo; “And Harold stands upon this place of skulls, the grave of France, the deadly Waterloo!” where he wonders if the defeat of Napoleon was worth all the bloodshed; “Shall we, who struck the Lion down, shall we [...]
After many years Childe Harold is tempted to travel again “But who can view the ripened rose, nor seek to wear it? Who can curiously behold the smoothness and the sheen of beauty’s cheek, nor feel the heart can never all grow old?”. “Where rose the mountains, there to him were friends; where rolled the [...]
Childe Harold finally arrives in “Fair Greece! sad relic of departed worth!” but he is disappointed to find the Greeks “Trembling beneath the scourge of Turkish hand, from birth to death enslav’d; in word, in deed unmann’d”. However it’s not all sadness for the inhabitants “And join the train of merry Carnival” as the do [...]
Childe Harold speaks of the people he met in Albania and of being entertained at the chief’s palace “Ali reclin’d, a man of war and woes; yet in his lineaments ye cannot trace, … the deeds that lurk beneath, and stain him with disgrace”. He fears that “Blood follows blood, and, through their mortal span, [...]
Lord Byron describes the fierce people and wild places Childe Harold encounters as “And onwards did his further journey take to greet Albania’s chief, whose dread command is lawless law; for with a bloody hand he sways a nation, turbalent and bold….”. He enjoys the mountains “Dusky and huge, enlarging on the sight, nature’s volcanic [...]
Lord Byron tells how Childe Harold has reformed himself when it came to loving women “But Harold on such arts no more relied; and had he doted on those eyes so blue, yet never would he join the the lover’s whining crew”. However Childe Harold can still give some sound advise to would-be lovers about [...]
Lord Byron describes the sea voyage of Childe Harold “Through Calpe’s straits survey the steepy shore; Europe and Afric on each other gaze!”. The poet contrasts the loneliness felt by one “But midst the crowd, the hum, the shock of men,……With none who bless us , none whom we can bless;…….This is to be alone, [...]
Lord George Byron starts the second canto of Childe harold’s pilgrimage in Greece at that time under Turkish Moslem rule, a condition which he very much regrets; but he accepts that “even Gods must yield – religions take their turn: ’twas Jove’s – ’tis Mahomet’s – and other creeds will rise with other years, till [...]
Childe Harold sings a sad song to Inez saying “To me no pleasure Beauty brings; thine eyes have scarce a charm for me”. He goes on to lament the fate of all Spain under the french invasion and that of ‘fair Cadiz’ in particular, saying “When all were changing thou alone wert true, first to [...]
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