Analysis of Don Juan: Canto the Eleventh
George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)
I
When Bishop Berkeley said "there was no matter,"
And proved it--'twas no matter what he sald:
They say his system 'tis in vain to batter,
Too subtle for the airiest human head;
And yet who can believe it! I would shatter
Gladly all matters down to stone or lead,
Or adamant, to find the World a spirit,
And wear my head, denying that I wear it.II
What a sublime discovery 'twas to make the
Universe universal egotism,
That all's ideal--all ourselves: I'll stake the
World (be it what you will) that that's no schism.
Oh Doubt!--if thou be'st Doubt, for which some take thee,
But which I doubt extremely--thou sole prism
Of the Truth's rays, spoil not my draught of spirit!
Heaven's brandy, though our brain can hardly bear it.III
For ever and anon comes Indigestion
(Not the most "dainty Ariel") and perplexes
Our soarings with another sort of question:
And that which after all my spirit vexes,
Is, that I find no spot where Man can rest eye on,
Without confusion of the sorts and sexes,
Of beings, stars, and this unriddled wonder,
The World, which at the worst's a glorious blunder--IV
If it be chance--or, if it be according
To the Old Text, still better: lest it should
Turn out so, we'll say nothing 'gainst the wording,
As several people think such hazards rude.
They're right; our days are too brief for affording
Space to dispute what no one ever could
Decide, and everybody one day will
Know very clearly--or at least lie still.V
And therefore will I leave off metaphysical
Discussion, which is neither here nor there:
If I agree that what is, is; then this I call
Being quite perspicuous and extremely fair.
The truth is, I've grown lately rather phthisical:
I don't know what the reason is--the air
Perhaps; but as I suffer from the shocks
Of illness, I grow much more orthodox.VI
The first attack at once prov'd the Divinity
(But that I never doubted, nor the Devil);
The next, the Virgin's mystical virginity;
The third, the usual Origin of Evil;
The fourth at once establish'd the whole Trinity
On so uncontrovertible a level,
That I devoutly wish'd the three were four--
On purpose to believe so much the more.VII
To our theme.--The man who has stood on the Acropolis,
And look'd down over Attica; or he
Who has sail'd where picturesque Constantinople is,
Or seen Timbuctoo, or hath taken tea
In small-ey'd China's crockery-ware metropolis,
Or sat amidst the bricks of Nineveh,
May not think much of London's first appearance--
But ask him what he thinks of it a year hence!VIII
Don Juan had got out on Shooter's Hill;
Sunset the time, the place the same declivity
Which looks along that vale of good and ill
Where London streets ferment in full activity,
While everything around was calm and still,
Except the creak of wheels, which on their pivot he
Heard, and that bee-like, bubbling, busy hum
Of cities, that boil over with their scum--IX
I say, Don Juan, wrapp'd in contemplation,
Walk'd on behind his carriage, o'er the summit,
And lost in wonder of so great a nation,
Gave way to't, since he could not overcome it.
"And here," he cried, "is Freedom's chosen station;
Here peals the People's voice nor can entomb it
Racks, prisons, inquisitions; resurrection
Awaits it, each new meeting or election.X
"Here are chaste wives, pure lives; her people pay
But what they please; and if that things be dear,
'Tis only that they love to throw away
Their cash, to show how much they have a-year.
Here laws are all inviolate; none lay
Traps for the traveller; every highway's clear;
Here"--he was interrupted by a knife,
With--"Damn your eyes! your money or your life!"XI
These free-born sounds proceeded from four pads
In ambush laid, who had perceiv'd him loiter
Behind his carriage; and, like handy lads,
Had seiz'd the lucky hour to reconnoitre,
In which the heedless gentleman who gads
Upon the road, unless he prove a fighter
May find himself within that isle of riches
Expos'd to lose his life as well as breeches.XII
Juan, who did not understand a word
Of English, save their shibboleth, &qu
Scheme | XABABABBBCDCDEDBB FGFGXHAI JBJBJBKI LMXMKMXI BLBLBLXI NEGBNCXI KBKBKEDG FBFBFBFG OPOPOPIG QAQAQAHG BX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 11010111110 0111110111 11110101110 110101101 01110111110 1011011111 11001101010 01110101111 100101001110 10010100 11011001110 11111111110 111111111111 11110101110 10111111110 1010110111011 110011010 101101000010 10110101110 0111011101 111111111111 01010101010 110101110 0111010100101 11111111010 1011110111 11111101010 1101011101 111011111010 1101111101 10100111 1101011111 0111110100 0101110111 110111111111 101100101 0111110101 1111010101 0111110101 11011111 010111100100 11110101010 010101000100 010100100110 011101001100 111010 1101010101 1101011101 110101111100100 0111010011 111110000101 11111101 0111010010100 1101011100 11111101010 11111111011 11111111 10101011 1101111101 110101010100 110011101 010111111101 10111100101 11011101111 111110010 110111010010 01010111010 11111111101 01111101010 11010111011 1101010 011111011 1111110101 1111011111 1101111101 1111111101 1111010011 11010010011 111010101 1111110111 1111010111 0111101110 0111001101 110101011 010110011 01010111010 11010111110 0111111111 11110101 11011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 4,345 |
Words | 715 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 17, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 2 |
Lines Amount | 91 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 283 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 64 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 12, 2023
- 3:44 min read
- 103 Views
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"Don Juan: Canto the Eleventh" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15054/don-juan%3A-canto-the-eleventh>.
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