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(1. 522, 523)

And whomsoe'er along the path you meet
Bears in his cap the badge of crimson hue:
Sinks, like a seaweed, into whence she rose. (4. 114)

e. Irregular agreement of subject and verb:

The feast, the song, the revel here abounds: (1.487)
All that expands the spirit, yet appals,

Gather around these summits: (3. 596, 597)

The double night of ages, and of her,

Night's daughter, Ignorance, hath wrapt and wrap
All round us: (4.721-3)

Are exprest

All that ideal beauty ever bless'd

The mind with in its most unearthly mood. (4. 1453-5)

f. Various forms of condensed expression:

When less barbarians would have cheer'd him less, (2. 592)

i. e. men less barbarous.

Of then destruction, (4.410)

i. e. the destruction of that time.

And flies unconscious o'er each backward year, (2. 211)

i.e. each year which it retraces.

And onward view'd the mount, (2. 345)

i. e. as he proceeded.

For daring made thy rise as fall, (3. 322)

i. e. as it made thy fall.

A special form of condensed expression is zeugma, or the use of one word with two others, when it properly applies to only one of them.

Banners on high, and battles pass'd below, (3.420)

for 'banners waved on high.'

Of hasty growth and blight, (4.81)

for 'sudden blight.'

The Sun in human limbs array'd, and brow

All radiant from his triumph in the fight. (4. 1443, 44)

g. Anticipation of a substantive by a pronoun.

Wandering in youth, I traced the path of him,

The Roman friend of Rome's least mortal mind: (4. 388,9)
Angelo's, Alfieri's bones, and his,

The starry Galileo: (4. 484)

This must he feel, the true-born son of Greece. (2. 783)

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The stanza occupies an intermediate position between the continuous verse of an epic poem like 'Paradise Lost' and the pointed brevity of the couplet. Though it does not possess the full dignity of the one or the concinnity of the other, yet to some extent it unites the merits and avoids the disadvantages of both. From being longer and more complex than the couplet it can express an idea or group of ideas more fully and illustrate it more elaborately, and develope a description more completely; while, on the other hand, the recurrence of a marked pause at definite intervals imparts a unity to each successive step in the progress of the poem, and at the same time relieves the strain on the attention which is unavoidable in continuous verse. The stanza was especially well suited for Byron's purpose in 'Childe Harold,' because the subject is constantly shifting, and requires that there should be continuity, but of the least stringent kind. The stanzas are not so much the links of a chain, as beads on a string.

The Spenserian stanza is so called to distinguish it from other stanzas, because Spenser used it in his 'Faery Queene'; it consists of nine lines, the last of which is an Alexandrine. The ordinary verses are iambic lines of 5 accents and 10 (sometimes II) syllables, as

Oh, lovely Spáin! renówn'd, romántic lánd;

while the Alexandrine has 6 accents and 12 (sometimes 13) syllables, as

But sláve succeéd to sláve through years of endless toil;

the extra syllable is found where there is a double rhyme. The lines of the stanza which rhyme with one another are 1, 3; 2, 4, 5, 7; 6, 8, 9.

b. Pauses.

(1) Notwithstanding the strict rules to which this stanza is subject, it admits of great variety, which results from shifting the position of the more important pauses. Even where these are regularly found at the end of the line, this effect is produced by the verses being variously grouped together according as the pause falls before or after them; and by the same process the rhymes, though retaining their positions, are affected, as it were, by a change of light and shade. In particular, a strong stop at the end of the fifth line has a marked effect in throwing that line into immediate connection with the four preceding ones, which alternate in their rhymes, so that it appears to clench them: e.g.

Last noon beheld them full of lusty life,
Last eve in Beauty's circle proudly gay,

The midnight brought the signal-sound of strife,
The morn the marshalling in arms,- the day
Battle's magnificently stern array! (3. 244-8)

Accordingly it is in this part of the stanza that many of
the finest lines in the poem occur; e. g. 2. 122, 230;
3. 1026: 4.473, 563, 1400.

(2) In respect of the position of the pauses there is a striking difference between the two first and the two last cantos, for in the former they are much more regular than in the latter, the strong stops, colon or semi-colon, being at the end of the line. There are nine marked exceptions to this rule in Canto 1, seventeen in Canto 2; whereas in the two last cantos the strong pauses in the middle of a line are about as numerous as the stanzas. This change, like others to be hereafter mentioned, arose chiefly from the additional impetuosity, and consequent rhetorical

element in style, which was caused by the tumultuous state of feeling of the poet at the later period. In Cantos 3 and 4, Byron is especially fond of the pause after the seventh syllable, which is often very effective ; e.g. 3. 792, 802, 812, 829, 849, 863.

A striking effect is sometimes produced by contrasting the first and last half of successive lines; e. g.

Her lover sinks-she sheds no ill-timed tear;
Her chief is slain-she fills his fatal post;

Her fellows flee-she checks their base career;

The foe retires-she heads the sallying host. (1.576-9)

Compare 2, 846-9.

(3) As each stanza is supposed to be complete in itself, it is a deviation from the principle of this form of composition, when a strong pause is wanting at the end. This is of very rare occurrence in the first three cantosinstances are 1. 539; 2. 522, 845; but in Canto 4 it is common, so much so that in one part there is only one full stop in eight stanzas (4. 613-684).

(4) It can hardly be regarded as other than a defect in Byron's verse that he is apt to end a line with a word closely connected with the beginning of the next, thus destroying the pause which is naturally made between the verses; as—

Fresh lessons to the thinking bosom, how

Vain are the pleasaunces on earth supplied: (1. 285, 6)

Fierce are Albania's children, yet they lack

Not virtues, were those virtues more mature. (2. 577, 8)

This is of frequent occurrence in Canto 4, and still more so in the poet's dramas.

c. Double rhymes.

Double, or weak, rhymes, where the two last syllables of the verse rhyme, are not found in the first two cantos. The avoid

ance of them seems to have been intentional, probably from the feeling that the single rhyme was more dignified, for an instance is found in the first line of the Dedication, where the poet was writing more familiarly. The first place in the poem itself where a double rhyme occurs is in Canto 3

And his was of the bravest, and when shower'd; (3.258) and there are several other instances in that canto (442, 563, 824, 879, 1022, 1023); but in the fourth canto the examples are numerous, extending even to the Alexandrine. It seems as if the poet, in his eagerness to express his thoughts, rebelled against the limits which he had assigned to himself.

d. Alliteration.

This ornamental device of art—which is in part a remnant of the old English versification, where it was systematically used -is elaborately employed by Byron. It imparts a melodious sound to the verses, but can easily degenerate into a jingle; and therefore it is better as a rule that it should be felt than distinctly recognised. Nor must it be supposed that in modern English poetry the writer himself is always conscious of it, for it is frequently suggested by association and ear, so that, when there is a choice of words to use, the alliterative one presents itself by preference. The following remarks on the alliteration in 'Childe Harold' refer to the correspondence of initial consonants only, for it would carry us too far to speak of alliteration in vowels, and in the middle of words, as in—

Here pierceth not, impregnate with disease. (2.448) (1) Alliteration between two words coupled together : Substantives-'doubt and death,' 'war and woes,' 'splendour and success,'' brain and breast,'' sects and systems,' 'fire and fickleness,' 'darkness and dismay.' Adjectives desolate and dark,' 'wide and winding,' gray and ghastly,' 'sweet and sacred,' 'fair but froward,' 'fierce and far.'

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