Myth of Arrival

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto I [continued]

XXXI.
More bleak to view the hills at length recede,
And, less luxuriant, smoother vales extend;
Immense horizon-bounded plains succeed!
Far as the eye discerns, withouten end,
Spain's realms appear whereon her shepherds tend
Flocks, whose rich fleece right well the trader knows -
Now must the pastor's arm his lambs defend:
For Spain is compass'd by unyielding foes,¹
And all must shield their all, or share Subjection's woes.

XXXII.
Where Lusitania and her Sister² meet,
Deem ye what bounds the rival realms divide?
Or ere the jealous queens of nations greet,
Doth Tayo³ interpose his mighty tide?
Or dark Sierras rise in craggy pride?
Or fence of art, like China's vasty wall? -
Ne barrier wall, ne river deep and wide,
Ne horrid crags,⁴ nor mountains dark and tall,
Rise like the rocks that part Hispania's land from Gaul:

XXXIII.
But these between a silver streamlet⁵ glides,
And scarce a name distinguisheth the brook,
Though rival kingdoms press its verdant sides.
Here leans the idle shepherd on his crook,
And vacant on the rippling waves doth look,⁶
That peaceful still 'twixt bitterest foemen flow;
For proud each peasant as the noblest duke:
Well doth the Spaniard hind the difference know
'Twixt him and Lusian slave, ⁷ the lowest of the low.

XXXIV.
But ere the mingling bounds have far been pass'd,
Dark Guadiana⁸ rolls his power along
In sullen billows, murmuring and vast,
So noted ancient roundelays⁹ among.
Whilome upon his banks did legions throng
Of Moor and Knight, in mailèd splendour drest:¹⁰
Here ceased the swift their race, here sunk the strong;¹¹
The Paynim turban and the Christian crest¹²
Mix'd on the bleeding stream, by floating hosts oppress'd.

XXXV.
Oh. lovely Spain! renown'd, romantic land!
Where is that standard¹³ which Pelagio bore,
When Cava's traitor-sire¹⁴ first call'd the band
That dyed thy mountain streams with Gothic gore?¹⁵
Where are those bloody banners which of yore
Waved o'er thy son's, victorious to the gale,
And drove at last the spoilers to their shore?¹⁶
Red gleam'd the cross, and waned the crescent pale,¹⁷
While Afric's echoes thrill'd with Moorish matrons' wail.

XXXVI.
Teems not each ditty with the glorious tale?
Ah! such, alas! the hero's amplest fate!
When granite moulders, and when records fall,
A peasant's plaint prolongs his dubious date.
Pride! bend thine eye from heaven to thine estate,
See how the Mighty shrink into a song!¹⁸
Can Volume, Pillar, Pile preserve thee great?
Or must thou trust Tradition's simple tongue,
When Flattery sleeps with thee, and History does thee wrong?

XXXVII.
Awake, ye sons of Spain! awake! advance!
Lo! Chivalry, your ancient goddess, cries,
But wields not, as of old, her thirsty lance,
Nor shakes her crimson plumage in the skies:
Now on the smoke of blazing bolts she flies,
And speaks in thunder through yon engine's roar:
In every peal she calls - 'Awake! arise!'
Say, is her voice more feeble than of yore,
When her war-song was heard on Andalusia's¹⁹ shore?

XXXVIII.
Hark! heard you not those hoofs of dreadful note?
Sounds not the clang of conflict on the heath?
Saw ye not whom the reeking sabre smote,
Nore saved your brethren ere they sank beneath
Tyrants and tyrants' slaves? the fires of death,
The bale-fires flash on high: - from rock to rock²⁰
Each volley tells that thousands cease to breathe;
Death rides upon the sulphury Siroc,
Red Battle stamps his foot, and nations feel the shock.

XXXIX.
Lo! where the Giant²¹ on the mountain stands,
His blood-red tresses deep'ning in the sun,
With death-shot glowing in his fiery hands,
And eye that scorcheth all it glares upon;
Restless it rolls, now fix'd, and now anon
Flashing afar, - and at his iron feet
Destruction cowers, to mark what deeds are done;²²
For on this morn three potent nations meet,
To shed before his shrine the blood he deems most sweet.

XL.
By heaven! it is a splendid sight to see²³
(For one who hath no friend, no brother there)
Their rival scarfs of mix'd embroidery,
Their various arms that glitter in the air!
What gallant war-hounds rouse them from their lair,
And gnash their fangs, loud yelling for the prey!²⁴
All join the chase, but few the triumph share;
The Grave shall bear the chiefest prize away,
And Havoc²⁵ scarce for joy can number their array.

[more notes on the way …]

***

Works Cited

Byron, George Gordon, Lord. The Poetical Works of Lord Byron. Collected and arranged, with illustrative notes, by Thomas Moore, Lord Jefferson, Sir Walter Scott … &c. … New York: D. Appleton & Company. (1848)

Chew, Samuel C. (ed.) Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and other romantic poems. New York: Odyssey Press. (1936)

Coleridge, E.H. (ed.) The Works of Lord Byron, vol. II. London: J. Murray; New York: C. Scribner's sons. (1899)

McConnell, Frank D. (ed.) Byron's Poetry: authoritative texts, letters and journals, criticism, images of Byron. New York: Norton. (1978)

1. McConnell writes, "In 1808 Napoleon had forced Charles IV to abdicate the Spanish throne, and had placed his own brother, Joseph, as king in Spain. The Spanish resented and violently resisted French occupation of their country throughout hte Peninsular War 1804-14″ (McConnell, 34, ff8.). [back]
2. Portugal and Spain? [back]
3. "Tejo, the Tagus" river (Chew, 22, ff. 363) [back]
4. What is Byron trying to say? A random haiku might help: The chain-smoking niece/ greasens the stubborn crank-shaft./ Retrograde motion. Perhaps? No. [back]
5. "If … Byron passed through 'Albuera's plain' on his way from Lisbon to Seville, he must have crossed the frontier at a point between Elvas and Badajoz. In that case the 'silver streamlet' may be identified as Caia. Beckford remarks on 'the rivulet which separates the two kingdoms' …" (Coleridge, 45, ff.2) [back]
6. Thanks, Byron. We all know shepherds are a dull and dim bunch … unlike syphilitic Lords. [back]
7. "As I found the Portuguese, so I have characterized them. That they are since improved, at least to courage, is evident. The late exploits of Lord Wellington have effaced the follies of Cintra. He has, indeed, done wonders; he has, perhaps changed the character of a nation, reconciled rival superstitions and baffled an enemy who never retreated before his predecessors" (Byron, 18, ff. 1). [back]
8. A river of some sort. [back]
9. Spanish ballads of the conflicts between Christians and the Moors (Chew, 23, ff. 381). [back]
10. Besides being an odd rhyme for "oppressed" it also means fight. [back]
11. Compare this with Ecclesiastes 9:11, "I returned, and saw under the sun, that 'the race is not to the swift,' nor the battle to the strong." [back]
12. The war of "liberation" between the Muslim Moors and Christians in Spain. [back]
13. "The standard, as cross made of Asturian oak (La Cruz de la Victoria), which was said to have fallen from heaven before Pelayo gained the victory over the Moors at Cangas, in A.D. 718, is preserved at Oviedo" (Coleridge, 46, ff.2) [back]
14. In ancient gossip, McConnell writes, "Count Julian of Ceuta (Cava) in 711 aided the Moslem invasion of Spain. This invasion was resisted herically by the Christian king Pelagio (Pelayo) who ruled 718 - 37″ (McConnell, 35, ff. 3). [back]
15. "Count Julian's daughter, the Helen of Spain. Pelagius preserved his independence in the fastnesses of the Asturias, and the descendants of his followers, after some centuries,
    completed their struggle by the conquest of Granada" (Byron, 18, ff. 4). [back]
16. The Moors were finally expelled from Granada in 1492, in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella (Coleridge, 47, ff. 1) [back]
17. In the Sierra Nevada, south of Greanada, there is a point called "El Ultimo Suspiro del Moro ("The Last Sigh of the Moor") where the vanquished Boabdil turned for a last look upon the city which he had lost (Chew, 24, ff. 394) [back]
18. Is Byron using II Samuel 1:19's "The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen" here? [back]
19. Federico Garcia Lorca's province year later. [back]
20. "The Siroc [or Sirocco] is the violent hot wind that for weeks together blows down the Mediterranean from the Archipelago. Its effects are well known to all who have passed the Straits of Gibraltar" (Coleridge, 48, ff.1) [back]
21. A bit confusing here, Byron might be talking of Napoleon or some sort of war machine? [back]
22. Daniel 2:33 - 42: "Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image … His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay." [back]
23. The irony here is that Byron did not get to see it, being in the city of Seville at the time. "The batttle of Talavera began July 27, 1809, and lasted two days. As Byron must have reached Seville by the 21st or 22nd of the month, he was not as might be inferred, a spectator of any part of the engagement. Writing to his mother, August 11, he says, 'You have heard of the battle near Madrid, and in England they would call it a victory — a pretty victory! Two hundred officers and fie thousand men killed, all English, and the French in as great force as ever. I should have joined the army, but we have no time to lose before we get up the Mediterranean" (Coleridge, 49, ff. 1). [back]
24. Lamentations 2:16: "All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash their teeth." Indeed? [back]
25. Kissing is the Havoc of Dragonflies. [back]

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