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View Full Version : Where did these lines (that I don't completely remember) come from in Byron's work?



HBElliott
12-12-2008, 02:03 PM
To struggle for freedom is a noble -----,
and is alwas as nobly requited.
A man should struggle for freedom werever/whenever (?) he can,
And, if not shot or hanged, he'll be Knighted. :(

JBI
12-12-2008, 02:18 PM
Sounds like Don Juan, though it could be anywhere - the quotes don't feel exact, so it is hard to search for them with any accuracy.

The alexandrine seems very out of place, as it customary for lines to be 10 syllables long, except for the last one. The only Spenserian work though, I can think of for Byron is Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, which could be your best bet, if the line is accurate, but out of place.

HBElliott
12-12-2008, 06:46 PM
I'm looking for something more Romantic, as in the Byron, Shelley, Keats period, but maybe after they died, and just before "On This Day I Complete my (forgot) Year."
But thanks for the effort. Yours was the only one. My English teacher would have nailed that in a moment, but maybe because that was so much closer to the time it was written.

JBI
12-12-2008, 07:17 PM
On This Day I Complete My Thirty-sixth Year is certainly Byron, though the lines aren't found within it.

Silas Thorne
12-14-2008, 03:14 AM
Hi. I was just reading it last night. It's just called 'Stanzas' , from November 1820:

When a man hath no freedom to fight for at home,
Let him combat for that of his neighbours;
Let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome,
And get knocked on the head for his labours.

To do good to Mankind is the chivalrous plan,
And is always as nobly requited;
Then battle for Freedom wherever you can,
And, if not shot or hanged, you’ll get knighted.

smishay
05-04-2009, 08:30 PM
the title of peom is:

Written When about to join the Italian Carbonari by Lord Byron: George Gordon, Pg. 791