20

Though the rock of my last hope is shivered,
And its fragments are sunk in the wave,
Though I feel that my soul is delivered

To pain-it shall not be its slave.
There is many a pang to pursue me :

They may crush, but they shall not contemn
They may torture, but shall not subdue me

'Tis of thee that I think - not of them.

25 Though human, thou didst not deceive me Though woman, thou didst not forsake, Though loved, thou forborest to grieve me,

30

Though slandered, thou never couldst shake, -
Though trusted, thou didst not disclaim me,
Though parted, it was not to fly,
Though watchful, 'twas not to defame me
Nor mute, that the world might belie.

Yet I blame not the world, nor despise it,
Nor the war of the many with one

35 If

40

my

soul was not fitted to prize it,
'Twas folly not sooner to shun:
And if dearly that error hath cost me,
And more than I once could foresee,
I have found that whatever it lost me,

It could not deprive me of thee.

-

From the wreck of the past which hath perished,
Thus much I at least may recall,

It hath taught me that what I most cherished
Deserved to be dearest of all:

45 In the desert a fountain is springing,

In the wild waste there still is a tree,
And a bird in the solitude singing,
Which speaks to my spirit of thee.

"Be careful in printing the stanzas beginning, 'Though the day of my destiny's,' etc., which I think well of as a composition." — Byron. This poem was written at Campagne Diodati, near Geneva, July 24, 1816. His half-sister, Mrs. Leigh, championed his cause when British society calumniated him. Compare this poem to Byron's other poem, entitled "Epistle to Augusta." Read Edgar A. Poe's estimation of this poem given in his "The Poetic Principle." Scan (45-48).

ON THIS DAY I COMPLETE MY THIRTY-SIXTH YEAR Missolonghi, Jan. 22, 1824.

'Tis time this heart should be unmoved,

Since others it hath ceased to move:
Yet, though I cannot be beloved,
Still let me love!

5 My days are in the yellow leaf;

ΙΟ

The flowers and fruits of love are gone:
The worm, the canker, and the grief
Are mine alone!

The fire that on my bosom preys
Is lone as some volcanic isle;
No torch is kindled at its blaze
A funeral pile !

The hope, the fear, the jealous care,
The exalted portion of the pain
15 And power of love, I cannot share.
But wear the chain.

20

Such thoughts should shake my soul, nor now,
Where glory decks the hero's bier,

Or binds his brow.

The sword, the banner, and the field,

Glory and Greece, around me see!
The Spartan, borne upon his shield,
Was not more free.

25 Awake! (not Greece - she is awake!)
Awake, my spirit! Think through whom
Thy life-blood tracks its parent lake,
And then strike home!

30

Tread those reviving passions down,
Unworthy manhood! unto thee
Indifferent should the smile or frown
Of beauty be.

If thou regrett'st thy youth, why live?
The land of honourable death

35 Is here:

40

--

up to the field, and give

Away thy breath!

Seek out

less often sought than found

A soldier's grave, for thee the best;

Then look around, and choose thy ground,

And take thy rest.

"There is perhaps no production within the range of mere human composition, round which the circumstances and feelings under which it was written cast so touching an interest."— Moore.

What is Count Gamba's account of the writing of this last poem of Byron's? The thought contained in (1-4) finds similar utterance in a poem of 1819, "Stanzas to the River Po":

""Tis vain to struggle― let me perish young-
Live as I lived, and love as I have loved;
To dust if I return, from dust I sprung,

And there, at least, my heart can ne'er be moved."

Explain (23-24). What prophetic words in this poem have found similar utterance in a previously read poem of Burns'? This lyric recalls (94) in "The Isles of Greece." From this poem could the inference be made that, if Byron had not shortly died, he would have reformed?

SIR WALTER SCOTT

1771-1832

as Nature is bright, serene, or gloomy, Scott takes her temper, and paints her as she is; nothing of himself being ever intruded, except that faraway Eolian tone, of which he is unconscious.

John Ruskin.

Jock Of Hazeldean.

Optional Poems

Edmund's Song (Rokeby). Canto III. XVI.

Song: A Weary Lot Is Thine (Rokeby). Canto III. XXVIII. Madge Wildfire's Song (The Heart Of Midlothian ).

The Battle Of Flodden ( Marmion). Canto VI. XXV-XXXIV. The Chase (The Lady Of The Lake). Canto I. 28–167. Soldier Rest! Thy Warfare O'er (The Lady Of The Lake). Canto I. XXXI-XXXII.

Coronach (The Lady Of The Lake). Canto III. XVI.

The Combat (The Lady Of The Lake). Canto V. IX-XVII.

Phrases

Oh, what a tangled web we weave,

When first we practise to deceive! — Marmion.

Breathes there a man, with soul 'so dead,

Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land?