VII the Stanza of Childe Harold
Who framed the stanza of Childe Harold? HeIt was who, halting on a stormy shore,Knew well the lofty voice which evermore,In grand distress, doth haunt the sleepless seaWith solemn sounds. And as each wave did rollTill one came up, the mightiest of the whole,To sweep and surge across the vacant lea,Wild words were wedded to wild melody.This poet must have had a speechless senseOf some dead summer’s boundless affluence;Else, whither can we trace the passioned loreOf Beauty, steeping to the very coreHis royal verse, and that rare light which liesAbout it, like a sunset in the skies?