Analysis of A Very Mournful Ballad On The Siege And Conquest Of Alhama
George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)
Which, in the Arabic language, is to the following purport:
I
THE Moorish King rides up and down,
Through Granada's royal town;
From Elvira's gate to those
Of Bivarambla on he goes.
Woe is me, Alhama!
II
Letters to the monarch tell
How Alhama's city fell:
In the fire the scroll he threw,
And the messenger he slew.
Woe is me, Albamal
III
He quits his mule, and mounts his horse,
And through the street directs his course;
Through the street of Zacatin
To the Alhambra spurring in.
Woe is me, Alhama!
IV
When the Alhambra walls he gain'd,
On the moment he ordain'd
That the trumpet straight should sound
With the silver clarion round.
Woe is me, Alhamal
V
And when the hollow drums of war
Beat the loud alarm afar,
That the Moors of town and plain
Might answer to the martial strain.
Woe is me, Alhama!
VI
Then the Moors, by this aware,
That bloody Mars recall'd them there,
One by one, and two by two,
To a mighty squadron grew.
Woe is me, Alhama!
VII
Out then spake an aged Moor
In these words the king before,
'Wherefore call on us, oh King?
What may mean this gathering?'
Woe is me, Alhama!
VIII
'Friends! ye have, alas! to know
Of a most disastrous blow;
That the Christians, stern and bold,
Have obtain'd Albania's hold.'
Woe is me, Alhama!
IX
Out then spake old Alfaqui,
With his beard so white to see,
'Good King! thou art justly served,
Good King! this thou hast deserved.
Woe is me, Alhama!
X
'By thee were slain, in evil hour,
The Abencerrage, Granada's flower;
And strangers were received by thee
Of Cordova the Chivalry.
Woe is me, Alhama!
XI
'And for this, oh King! is sent
On thee a double chastisement:
Thee and thine, thy crown and realm,
One last wreck shall overwhelm.
Woe is me, Alhama!
XII
'He who holds no laws in awe,
He must perish by the law;
And Granada must be won,
And thyself with her undone.'
Woe is me, Alhama!
XIII
Fire Crashed from out the old Moor's eyes,
The Monarch's wrath began to rise,
Because he answer'd, and because
He spake exceeding well of laws.
Woe is me, Alhama!
XIV
'There is no law to say such things
As may disgust the ear of kings:
'Thus, snorting with his choler, said
The Moorish King, and doom'd him dead.
Woe is me, Alhama!
XV
Moor Alfaqui! Moor Alfaqui!
Though thy beard so hoary be,
The King hath sent to have thee seized,
For Alhama's loss displeased.
Woe is me, Alhama!
XVI
And to fix thy head upon
High Alhambra's loftiest stone;
That thus for thee should be the law,
And others tremble when they saw.
Woe is me, Alhama!
XVII
'Cavalier, and man of worth!
Let these words of mine go forth!
Let the Moorish Monarch know,
That to him I nothing owe.
Woe is me, Alhama!
XVIII
'But on my soul Alhama weighs,
And on my inmost spirit preys;
And if the King his land hath lost,
Yet others may have lost the most.
Woe is me, Alhama!
XIX
'Sires have lost their children, wives
Their lords, and valiant men their lives!
One what best his love might claim
Hath lost, another wealth, or fame.
Woe is me, Alhama!
XX
'I lost a damsel in that hour,
Of all the land the loveliest flower;
Doubloons a hundred I would pay,
And think her ransom cheap that day.'
Woe is me, Alhama!
XXI
And as these things the old Moor said,
They sever'd from the trunk his head;
And to the Alhambra's wall with speed
'Twas carried, as the King decreed.
Woe is me, Alhama!
XXII
And men and infants therein weep
Their loss, so heavy and so deep;
Granada's ladies, all she rears
Within her walls, burst into tears.
Woe is me, Alhama!
XXIII
And from the windows o'er the walls
The sable web of mourning falls;
The King weeps as a woman o'er
His loss, for it is much and sore.
Woe is me, Alhama!
Scheme | a bccddE bffggf bhhcxE ijjkkf ilxmmE bnnggE ixlooE ippqqE dorssE xttrrE rxaeeE dxuvvE dwwxxE iyyzzE ior1 1 e ixxUue ixxPpe i2 2 xxe dXxeee dTt3 3 e dzz4 4 e d5 5 xxe d6 6 tle |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 100100101101001 1 01011101 1010101 11111 11111 1111 1 101011 11101 00100111 0010011 1111 1 11110111 01010111 10111 10010100 1111 1 10010111 1010101 1010111 10101001 1111 1 01010111 1010101 1011101 11010101 1111 1 1011101 11010111 1110111 1010101 1111 1 111111 0110101 111111 1111100 1111 1 1110111 1010101 1010101 10101001 1111 1 11111 1111111 1111101 1111101 1111 1 110101010 0101010 01000111 1100100 1111 1 0111111 110101 1011101 111101 1111 1 1111101 1110101 0010111 011001 1111 1 101110111 0110111 01110001 11010111 1111 1 11111111 11010111 1101111 01010111 1111 1 1111 1111101 01111111 11101 1111 1 0111101 1111 11111101 01010111 1111 1 010111 1111111 101011 1111101 1111 1 111111 0111101 01011111 11011101 1111 1 1111101 11010111 1111111 11010111 1111 1 110100110 11010110 1010111 01010111 1111 1 01110111 11010111 0101111 11010101 1111 1 01010011 11110011 01010111 01011011 1111 1 010101001 01011101 011101010 11111101 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 3,544 |
Words | 687 |
Sentences | 56 |
Stanzas | 24 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 139 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 115 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:31 min read
- 74 Views
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"A Very Mournful Ballad On The Siege And Conquest Of Alhama" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15029/a-very-mournful-ballad-on-the-siege-and-conquest-of-alhama>.
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