Skip directly to:Main content Main navigation

University of Virginia Library

The works of Lord Byron

A new, revised and enlarged edition, with illustrations. Edited by Ernest Hartley Coleridge and R. E. Prothero

Byron, George Gordon Byron (1788-1824)

collapse section

I.

Vol. I. HOURS OF IDLENESS AND OTHER EARLY POEMS.

collapse section

Fugitive Pieces.

ON LEAVING NEWSTEAD ABBEY.

ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG LADY, COUSIN TO THE AUTHOR, AND VERY DEAR TO HIM.

FRAGMENTS OF SCHOOL EXERCISES: FROM THE “PROMETHEUS VINCTUS” OF ÆSCHYLUS.

ON A CHANGE OF MASTERS AT A GREAT PUBLIC SCHOOL.

EPITAPH ON A BELOVED FRIEND.

ADRIAN'S ADDRESS TO HIS SOUL WHEN DYING.

ON A DISTANT VIEW OF THE VILLAGE AND SCHOOL OF HARROW ON THE HILL, 1806.

THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY A COLLEGE EXAMINATION.

ON THE DEATH OF MR. FOX

TO A LADY WHO PRESENTED TO THE AUTHOR A LOCK OF HAIR BRAIDED WITH HIS OWN, AND APPOINTED A NIGHT IN DECEMBER TO MEET HIM IN THE GARDEN.

TO A BEAUTIFUL QUAKER.

AN OCCASIONAL PROLOGUE,

REPLY TO SOME VERSES OF J. M. B. PIGOT, ESQ., ON THE CRUELTY OF HIS MISTRESS.

GRANTA. A MEDLEY.

TO THE SIGHING STREPHON.

LINES ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG LADY.

TRANSLATION FROM CATULLUS.

TRANSLATION OF THE EPITAPH ON VIRGIL AND TIBULLUS, BY DOMITIUS MARSUS.

IMITATION OF TIBULLUS.

TRANSLATION FROM CATULLUS.

IMITATED FROM CATULLUS.

collapse section

Poems on Various Occasions.

STANZAS TO A LADY, WITH THE POEMS OF CAMOËNS.

TRANSLATION FROM HORACE.

THE FIRST KISS OF LOVE.

CHILDISH RECOLLECTIONS.

ANSWER TO A BEAUTIFUL POEM, WRITTEN BY MONTGOMERY, AUTHOR OF “THE WANDERER OF SWITZERLAND,” ETC., ENTITLED “THE COMMON LOT.”

LOVE'S LAST ADIEU.

ANSWER TO SOME ELEGANT VERSES SENT BY A FRIEND TO THE AUTHOR, COMPLAINING THAT ONE OF HIS DESCRIPTIONS WAS RATHER TOO WARMLY DRAWN.

ELEGY ON NEWSTEAD ABBEY.

collapse section

Hours of Idleness.

TO GEORGE, EARL DELAWARR.

TRANSLATION FROM ANACREON.

THE EPISODE OF NISUS AND EURYALUS.

TRANSLATION FROM THE “MEDEA” OF EURIPIDES [Ll. 627–660].

THE DEATH OF CALMAR AND ORLA.

TO EDWARD NOEL LONG, ESQ.

collapse section

Poems Original and Translated.

WHEN I ROVED A YOUNG HIGHLANDER.

TO THE DUKE OF DORSET.

TO THE EARL OF CLARE.

I WOULD I WERE A CARELESS CHILD.

LINES WRITTEN BENEATH AN ELM IN THE CHURCHYARD OF HARROW.

collapse section

Early poems from Various Sources.

TO A KNOT OF UNGENEROUS CRITICS.

SOLILOQUY OF A BARD IN THE COUNTRY.

L'AMITIÉ EST L'AMOUR SANS AILES.

THE PRAYER OF NATURE.

TRANSLATION FROM ANACREON.

[OSSIAN'S ADDRESS TO THE SUN IN “CARTHON.”]

[PIGNUS AMORIS.]

[A WOMAN'S HAIR.]

STANZAS TO JESSY.

ON THE EYES OF MISS A--- H---

TO A VAIN LADY.

EGOTISM. A LETTER TO J. T. BECHER.

TO THE AUTHOR OF A SONNET

ON FINDING A FAN.

FAREWELL TO THE MUSE.

TO AN OAK AT NEWSTEAD.

ON REVISITING HARROW.

QUERIES TO CASUISTS.

THERE WAS A TIME, I NEED NOT NAME.

AND WILT THOU WEEP WHEN I AM LOW?

REMIND ME NOT, REMIND ME NOT.

TO A YOUTHFUL FRIEND.

LINES INSCRIBED UPON A CUP FORMED FROM A SKULL.

WELL! THOU ART HAPPY.

INSCRIPTION ON THE MONUMENT OF A NEWFOUNDLAND DOG.

FILL THE GOBLET AGAIN.

STANZAS TO A LADY, ON LEAVING ENGLAND.

collapse section

ENGLISH BARDS, AND SCOTCH REVIEWERS; BY LORD BYRON.

HINTS FROM HORACE:

THE CURSE OF MINERVA.

collapse section

THE WALTZ: By Horace Hornem, Esq.

To THE PUBLISHER.

collapse section

II.

collapse section

CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE.

Preface [To the first and second cantos.]

I.

CANTO THE FIRST.

2.

CANTO THE SECOND.

3.

CANTO THE THIRD.

4.

CANTO THE FOURTH.

collapse section

III.

collapse section

POEMS 1809–1813.

THE GIRL OF CADIZ.

LINES WRITTEN IN AN ALBUM, AT MALTA.

STANZAS COMPOSED DURING A THUNDERSTORM.

STANZAS WRITTEN IN PASSING THE AMBRACIAN GULF.

THE SPELL IS BROKE, THE CHARM IS FLOWN!

WRITTEN AFTER SWIMMING FROM SESTOS TO ABYDOS.

LINES IN THE TRAVELLERS' BOOK AT ORCHOMENUS.

MAID OF ATHENS, ERE WE PART.

collapse section

FRAGMENT FROM THE “MONK OF ATHOS.”

1.

2.

3.

LINES WRITTEN BENEATH A PICTURE.

TRANSLATION OF THE FAMOUS GREEK WAR SONG, “Δευτε παιδες των Ελληνων.”

TRANSLATION OF THE ROMAIC SONG, “Μπενω μεσ' το περιβολι, Ωραιοτατη Χαηδη,” κ.τ.λ.

FAREWELL TO MALTA.

NEWSTEAD ABBEY.

EPISTLE TO A FRIEND,

AWAY, AWAY, YE NOTES OF WOE!

ONE STRUGGLE MORE, AND I AM FREE.

AND THOU ART DEAD, AS YOUNG AND FAIR.

LINES TO A LADY WEEPING.

IF SOMETIMES IN THE HAUNTS OF MEN.

ON A CORNELIAN HEART WHICH WAS BROKEN.

THE CHAIN I GAVE.

LINES WRITTEN ON A BLANK LEAF OF THE PLEASURES OF MEMORY.

ADDRESS, SPOKEN AT THE OPENING OF DRURY-LANE THEATRE, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1812.

PARENTHETICAL ADDRESS.

VERSES FOUND IN A SUMMER-HOUSE AT HALES-OWEN.

REMEMBER THEE! REMEMBER THEE!

TRANSLATION OF A ROMAIC LOVE SONG.

THOU ART NOT FALSE, BUT THOU ART FICKLE.

ON BEING ASKED WHAT WAS THE “ORIGIN OF LOVE.”

ON THE QUOTATION, “And my true faith can alter never, Though thou art gone perhaps for ever.”

REMEMBER HIM, WHOM PASSION'S POWER.

IMPROMPTU, IN REPLY TO A FRIEND.

FROM THE PORTUGUESE.

collapse section

THE BRIDE OF ABYDOS.

collapse section

1.

CANTO THE FIRST.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

2.

CANTO THE SECOND.

collapse section

collapse section

1.

CANTO THE FIRST.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

collapse section

2.

CANTO THE SECOND.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

collapse section

3.

CANTO THE THIRD.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

ODE TO NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE.

collapse section

collapse section

1.

CANTO THE FIRST.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.

collapse section

2.

CANTO THE SECOND.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

collapse section

HEBREW MELODIES.

SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY.

THE HARP THE MONARCH MINSTREL SWEPT.

IF THAT HIGH WORLD.

THE WILD GAZELLE.

OH! WEEP FOR THOSE.

ON JORDAN'S BANKS.

JEPHTHA'S DAUGHTER.

OH! SNATCHED AWAY IN BEAUTY'S BLOOM.

MY SOUL IS DARK.

I SAW THEE WEEP.

THY DAYS ARE DONE.

SONG OF SAUL BEFORE HIS LAST BATTLE.

“ALL IS VANITY, SAITH THE PREACHER.”

WHEN COLDNESS WRAPS THIS SUFFERING CLAY.

VISION OF BELSHAZZAR.

SUN OF THE SLEEPLESS!

WERE MY BOSOM AS FALSE AS THOU DEEM'ST IT TO BE.

HEROD'S LAMENT FOR MARIAMNE.

ON THE DAY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS.

BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON WE SAT DOWN AND WEPT.

“BY THE WATERS OF BABYLON.”

THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB.

A SPIRIT PASSED BEFORE ME.

collapse section

POEMS 1814–1816.

FAREWELL! IF EVER FONDEST PRAYER.

WHEN WE TWO PARTED.

[LOVE AND GOLD.]

STANZAS FOR MUSIC.

ADDRESS INTENDED TO BE RECITED AT THE CALEDONIAN MEETING.

ELEGIAC STANZAS ON THE DEATH OF SIR PETER PARKER, BART.

JULIAN [A FRAGMENT].

STANZAS FOR MUSIC.

ON THE DEATH OF THE DUKE OF DORSET.

STANZAS FOR MUSIC.

NAPOLEON'S FAREWELL.

FROM THE FRENCH.

ODE FROM THE FRENCH.

STANZAS FOR MUSIC.

ON THE STAR OF “THE LEGION OF HONOUR.”

STANZAS FOR MUSIC.

collapse section

THE SIEGE OF CORINTH.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXI.

XXXII.

XXXIII.

collapse section

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

collapse section

POEMS OF THE SEPARATION.

FARE THEE WELL.

STANZAS TO AUGUSTA.

collapse section

IV.

THE PRISONER OF CHILLON.

collapse section

POEMS OF JULY—SEPTEMBER, 1816.

CHURCHILL'S GRAVE,

SONNET TO LAKE LEMAN.

STANZAS TO AUGUSTA.

EPISTLE TO AUGUSTA.

LINES ON HEARING THAT LADY BYRON WAS ILL.

MONODY ON THE DEATH OF THE RIGHT HON. R. B. SHERIDAN,

collapse section

collapse section

I.

I.

II.

collapse section

II.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

collapse section

III.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

THE LAMENT OF TASSO.

collapse section

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

THE PROPHECY OF DANTE.

THE MORGANTE MAGGIORE

FRANCESCA OF RIMINI.

collapse section

MARINO FALIERO,

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

collapse section

I.

I.

II.

collapse section

II.

I.

II.

collapse section

III.

I.

II.

collapse section

IV.

I.

II.

collapse section

V.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

collapse section

THE VISION OF JUDGMENT.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXI.

XXXII.

XXXIII.

XXXIV.

XXXV.

XXXVI.

XXXVII.

XXXVIII.

XXXIX.

XL.

XLI.

XLII.

XLIII.

XLIV.

XLV.

XLVI.

XLVII.

XLVIII.

XLIX.

L.

LI.

LII.

LIII.

LIV.

LV.

LVI.

LVII.

LVIII.

LIX.

LX.

LXI.

LXII.

LXIII.

LXIV.

LXV.

LXVI.

LXVII.

LXVIII.

LXIX.

LXX.

LXXI.

LXXII.

LXXIII.

LXXIV.

LXXV.

LXXVI.

LXXVII.

LXXVIII.

LXXIX.

LXXX.

LXXXI.

LXXXII.

LXXXIII.

LXXXIV.

LXXXV.

LXXXVI.

LXXXVII.

LXXXVIII.

LXXXIX.

XC.

XCI.

XCII.

XCIII.

XCIV.

XCV.

XCVI.

XCVII.

XCVIII.

XCIX.

C.

CI.

CII.

CIII.

CIV.

CV.

CVI.

collapse section

POEMS 1816–1823.

A VERY MOURNFUL BALLAD ON THE SIEGE AND CONQUEST OF ALHAMA.

TRANSLATION FROM VITTORELLI.

ON THE BUST OF HELEN BY CANOVA.

VENICE. A FRAGMENT.

SO WE'LL GO NO MORE A-ROVING.

collapse section

[LORD BYRON'S VERSES ON SAM ROGERS.]

STANZAS TO THE PO.

SONNET ON THE NUPTIALS OF THE MARQUIS ANTONIO CAVALLI WITH THE COUNTESS CLELIA RASPONI OF RAVENNA.

SONNET TO THE PRINCE REGENT.

ODE TO A LADY WHOSE LOVER WAS KILLED BY A BALL, WHICH AT THE SAME TIME SHIVERED A PORTRAIT NEXT HIS HEART.

THE IRISH AVATAR.

STANZAS WRITTEN ON THE ROAD BETWEEN FLORENCE AND PISA.

STANZAS TO A HINDOO AIR.

TO THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON.

collapse section

1.

ECLOGUE THE FIRST.

2.

ECLOGUE THE SECOND.

collapse section

V.

collapse section

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

collapse section

I.

I.

II.

collapse section

II.

I.

collapse section

III.

I.

collapse section

IV.

I.

collapse section

V.

I.

collapse section

THE TWO FOSCARI:

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

collapse section

I.

I.

collapse section

II.

I.

collapse section

III.

I.

collapse section

IV.

I.

collapse section

V.

I.

collapse section

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

collapse section

I.

I.

collapse section

II.

I.

II.

collapse section

III.

I.

collapse section

HEAVEN AND EARTH;

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

collapse section

I.

I.

II.

III.

collapse section

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

collapse section

I.

I.

collapse section

II.

I.

II.

collapse section

III.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

collapse section

IV.

I.

collapse section

V.

I.

II.

collapse section

collapse section

I.

I.

II.

collapse section

THE DEFORMED TRANSFORMED:

collapse section

I.

I.

II.

collapse section

II.

I.

II.

III.

collapse section

III.

I.

III.

FRAGMENT OF THE THIRD PART OF THE DEFORMED TRANSFORMED.

collapse section

THE AGE OF BRONZE;

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

collapse section

collapse section

1.

CANTO THE FIRST.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

2.

CANTO THE SECOND.

3.

CANTO THE THIRD.

4.

CANTO THE FOURTH.

collapse section

7.

collapse section

JEUX D'ESPRIT AND MINOR POEMS, 1798–1824.

EPIGRAM ON AN OLD LADY WHO HAD SOME CURIOUS NOTIONS RESPECTING THE SOUL.

EPITAPH ON JOHN ADAMS, OF SOUTHWELL,

A VERSION OF OSSIAN'S ADDRESS TO THE SUN.

LINES TO MR. HODGSON.

[TO DIVES. A FRAGMENT.]

FAREWELL PETITION TO J. C. H., ESQRE.

TRANSLATION OF THE NURSE'S DOLE IN THE MEDEA OF EURIPIDES.

SUBSTITUTE FOR AN EPITAPH.

EPITAPH FOR JOSEPH BLACKET, LATE POET AND SHOEMAKER.

ON MOORE'S LAST OPERATIC FARCE, OR FARCICAL OPERA.

[R. C. DALLAS.]

AN ODE TO THE FRAMERS OF THE FRAME BILL.

TO THE HONBLE. MRS. GEORGE LAMB.

TO THOMAS MOORE.

ON LORD THURLOW'S POEMS.

TO LORD THURLOW.

THE DEVIL'S DRIVE.

WINDSOR POETICS.

[Another Version.] ON A ROYAL VISIT TO THE VAULTS.

CONDOLATORY ADDRESS

FRAGMENT OF AN EPISTLE TO THOMAS MOORE.

ANSWER TO ---'S PROFESSIONS OF AFFECTION.

ON NAPOLEON'S ESCAPE FROM ELBA.

ENDORSEMENT TO THE DEED OF SEPARATION, IN THE APRIL OF 1816.

[TO GEORGE ANSON BYRON (?)]

SONG FOR THE LUDDITES.

TO THOMAS MOORE.

QUEM DEUS VULT PERDERE PRIUS DEMENTAT.

TO THOMAS MOORE.

EPISTLE FROM MR. MURRAY TO DR. POLIDORI.

EPISTLE TO MR. MURRAY.

ON THE BIRTH OF JOHN WILLIAM RIZZO HOPPNER.

[E NIHILO NIHIL;

BALLAD. TO THE TUNE OF “SALLEY IN OUR ALLEY.”

ANOTHER SIMPLE BALLAT.

EPIGRAM. FROM THE FRENCH OF RULHIERES.

ON MY WEDDING-DAY.

EPITAPH FOR WILLIAM PITT.

MY BOY HOBBIE O.

LINES ADDRESSED BY LORD BYRON TO MR. HOBHOUSE ON HIS ELECTION FOR WESTMINSTER.

A VOLUME OF NONSENSE.

THE CHARITY BALL.

EPIGRAM ON THE BRAZIERS' ADDRESS TO BE PRESENTED IN ARMOUR BY THE COMPANY TO QUEEN CAROLINE.

ON MY THIRTY-THIRD BIRTHDAY.

MARTIAL, Lib. I. Epig. I.

BOWLES AND CAMPBELL.

FROM THE FRENCH.

[NAPOLEON'S SNUFF-BOX.]

THE NEW VICAR OF BRAY.

LUCIETTA. A FRAGMENT.

JOURNAL IN CEPHALONIA.

SONG TO THE SULIOTES.

[LOVE AND DEATH.]

LAST WORDS ON GREECE.

ON THIS DAY I COMPLETE MY THIRTY-SIXTH YEAR.

collapse section

Collapse All | Expand All expand section

309

Behold! in various throngs the scribbling crew,
For notice eager, pass in long review:
Each spurs his jaded Pegasus apace,
And Rhyme and Blank maintain an equal race;
Sonnets on sonnets crowd, and ode on ode;
And Tales of Terror jostle on the road;
Immeasurable measures move along;
For simpering Folly loves a varied song,
To strange, mysterious Dulness still the friend,
Admires the strain she cannot comprehend.
Thus Lays of Minstrels —may they be the last!—

310

On half-strung harps whine mournful to the blast.
While mountain spirits prate to river sprites,
That dames may listen to the sound at nights;
And goblin brats, of Gilpin Horner's brood
Decoy young Border-nobles through the wood,
And skip at every step, Lord knows how high,
And frighten foolish babes, the Lord knows why;
While high-born ladies in their magic cell,
Forbidding Knights to read who cannot spell,
Despatch a courier to a wizard's grave,
And fight with honest men to shield a knave.

See the “Lay of the Last Minstrel,” passim. Never was any plan so incongruous and absurd as the groundwork of this production. The entrance of Thunder and Lightning prologuising to Bayes' tragedy, unfortunately takes away the merit of originality from the dialogue between Messieurs the Spirits of Flood and Fell in the first canto. Then we have the amiable William of Deloraine, “a stark moss-trooper,” videlicet, a happy compound of poacher, sheep-stealer, and highwayman. The propriety of his magical lady's injunction not to read can only be equalled by his candid acknowledgment of his independence of the trammels of spelling, although, to use his own elegant phrase, “'twas his neckverse at Harribee,” i.e. the gallows.

The biography of Gilpin Horner, and the marvellous pedestrian page, who travelled twice as fast as his master's horse, without the aid of seven-leagued boots, are chefs d'œuvre in the improvement of taste. For incident we have the invisible, but by no means sparing box on the ear bestowed on the page, and the entrance of a Knight and Charger into the castle, under the very natural disguise of a wain of hay. Marmion, the hero of the latter romance, is exactly what William of Deloraine would have been, had he been able to read and write. The poem was manufactured for Messrs. Constable, Murray, and Miller, worshipful Booksellers, in consideration of the receipt of a sum of money; and truly, considering the inspiration, it is a very creditable production. If Mr. Scott will write for hire, let him do his best for his paymasters, but not disgrace his genius, which is undoubtedly great, by a repetition of Black-Letter Ballad imitations.