The Isles of Greece

George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)



The isles of Greece, the isles of Greece!
       Where burning Sappho loved and sung,
       Where grew the arts of war and peace,
       Where Delos rose, and Phoebus
       sprung!
       Eternal summer gilds them yet,
       But all, except their sun, is set...

       The mountains look on Marathon--
       And Marathon looks on the sea;
       And musing there an hour alone,
       I dreamed that Greece might still be free;
       For standing on the Persians' grave,
       I could not deem myself a slave.

       A king sat on the rocky brow
       Which looks o'er sea-born Salamis;
       And ships, by thousands, lay below,
       And men in nations--all were his!
       He counted them at break of day--
       And when the sun set, where were they?

       And where are they?  And where art thou?
       My country?  On thy voiceless shore
       The heroic lay is tuneless now--
       The heroic bosom beats no more!
       And must thy lyre, so long divine,
       Degenerate into hands like mine?

       'Tis something, in the dearth of fame,
       Though linked among a fettered race,
       To feel at least a patriot's shame,
       Even as I sing, suffuse my face;
       For what is left the poet here?
       For Greeks a blush--for Greece a tear....

       Fill high the bowl with Samian wine!
       Our virgins dance beneath the shade--
       I see their glorious black eyes shine;
       But gazing on each glowing maid,
       My own the burning teardrop laves,
       To think such breasts must suckle slaves.

       Place me on Sunium's marbled steep,
       Where nothing, save the waves and I,
       May hear our mutual murmurs sweep;
       There, swanlike, let me sing and die:
       A land of slaves shall ne'er be mine--
       Dash down yon cup of Samian wine!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 01, 2023

1:24 min read
764

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAXBCC XDXDEE FXXXGG FHFHII JKJKXX ILILAX MNMNII
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,771
Words 278
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6

George Gordon Lord Byron

George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, known simply as Lord Byron, was an English poet, peer and politician who became a revolutionary in the Greek War of Independence, and is considered one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement. He is regarded as one of the greatest English poets and remains widely read and influential. Among his best-known works are the lengthy narrative poems Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage; many of his shorter lyrics in Hebrew Melodies also became popular. He travelled extensively across Europe, especially in Italy, where he lived for seven years in the cities of Venice, Ravenna, and Pisa. During his stay in Italy he frequently visited his friend and fellow poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Later in life Byron joined the Greek War of Independence fighting the Ottoman Empire and died of disease leading a campaign during that war, for which Greeks revere him as a national hero. He died in 1824 at the age of 36 from a fever contracted after the First and Second Siege of Missolonghi. His only legitimate child, Ada Lovelace, is regarded as a foundational figure in the field of computer programming based on her notes for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. Byron's illegitimate children include Allegra Byron, who died in childhood, and possibly Elizabeth Medora Leigh.  more…

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