Lord Byron - Solitude (from Childe Harold)
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- Опубликовано: 23 май 2017
- This poem, known as "Solitude", is actually an excerpt from Byron's "Childe Harold's Piligrimage", specifically stanzas XXV and XXVI of Canto II. "Childe Harold" is a long narrative poem in four parts, published between 1812 and 1818.
SOLITUDE
To sit on rocks, to muse o’er flood and fell,
To slowly trace the forest’s shady scene,
Where things that own not man’s dominion dwell,
And mortal foot hath ne’er or rarely been;
To climb the trackless mountain all unseen,
With the wild flock that never needs a fold;
Alone o’er steeps and foaming falls to lean,-
This is not solitude; ’t is but to hold
Converse with Nature’s charms, and view her stores unrolled.
But midst the crowd, the hum, the shock of men
To hear, to see, to feel, and to possess,
And roam along, the world’s tired denizen,
With none who bless us, none whom we can bless;
Minions of splendor shrinking from distress!
None that, with kindred consciousness endued,
If we were not, would seem to smile the less
Of all that flattered, followed, sought, and sued;
This is to be alone; this, this is solitude!
The paintings are:
-Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg, “Visitor to a Moonlit Churchyard,” 1790
-Luigi Trecourt, "Lord Byron on the Greek Coastline", 19th century
-Gustave Caillebotte, "Paris Street: Rainy Day", 1877 
Развлечения
I love this poem, thank you.
Glad you liked it! Thank you very much
Thank you.
Why would one seem to smile the less?
It's linked to "If we were not", which here means "If we were not alive". Try reading it this way: "None that...if we were not, would seem to smile the less": whether "we" are close to them or far away, whether we are alive or dead, it makes no difference to the crowds Byron is describing. Hence, why this is real solitude, even if one is not alone in a physical sense. I hope that makes things a little clearer.
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Would seem to smile the less.....this line is confusing 😟