The Eve of Waterloo by Lord Byron is a narrative poem, exciting as

well as full of pathos. The poem is based on a true incident that

happened just before the Battle o Waterloo. The battle took place in
June 1815 in Waterloo, a village about 11 miles from Brussels where
the Duke of Wellington defeated his famous French rival, Napoleon.
Napoleon was sent to exile and imprisonment. When Napoleon was
advancing towards Brussels, the Duke of Wellington was with his
officers attending a ball thrown by Charlotte, the Duchess of
Richmond.
Summary:
Stanza 1: The poem, The Eve of Waterloo begins with a night
scene, the eve of the battle. The sound of revelry echoes in the
large ballrooms of Brussels, the capital of Belgium. The English
officers and their ladies are seen dancing to the tune of the music
which is being played. The ballroom was dazzling with the glow of
bright lamps. Everybody present there was in a happy mood. As the
volume of the music increased, the couples dancing started to
exchange expressions of love through their glances. As the
celebrations advanced like a wedding ceremony, they heard a sound
of a cannon fire similar to the sound of a church bell announcing a
burial.
Stanza 2: The sound of the cannon fire was ignored in the beginning
by everyone as they thought it was the sound of the wind or that of
a rattling car over the stony street. The people in the ballroom
continued with their dances and enjoyed themselves without being
disturbed until dawn. The poet has used personification here; Youth
and Pleasure have been personified. The poet says when youth and
pleasure meet; they seem to be dancing in such a way as if they are
chasing time with the speed of their feet. All of a sudden, the sounds
of the cannon are heard once again. The sounds are louder, clearer
and deadlier than before. Everybody was asked to arm themselves
as the cannon fires began to roar.
Stanza 3: The Duke of Brunswick, Frederick William was the first to
hear the sound amidst the celebrations. He could recognize from the
tone that it was the sound of cannon. The Duke understood that it
was a death knell for him. His father too was killed in a battle. It was
the same sound that preceded his death. Thus, he was determined

to take revenge upon his enemies by shedding the blood of his

opponents. He is killed in the battlefield.
Stanza 4: The fourth stanza describes the confusion and the chaotic
situation that takes place as the people are hurrying to and fro to
prepare for the war. The women are sad because they are soon
going to part with their partners. Their eyes are wet and they are
trembling with fear. Due to the sudden parting, their cheeks have
turned pale, which were blushing sometime back. The young people
felt that their life was being taken away from them. The choking
sighs might never be repeated; no one knew whether or not the
men would return from the battle. They all wondered that how a
night so full of love and happiness could give rise to such an awful
and dreadful morning.
Stanza 5: The men quickly formed their ranks. The soldiers and
officers mount their horses and gather in large numbers and starts
moving towards their approaching enemies with great speed. The
thundering sound of the enemies guns is heard again and again. In
the meantime, the city is woken up by the warning drums that are
played early morning. The people assemble in groups, terrified. They
whisper with pale lips to specify that the French army had come.
Stanza 6: The Camerons (a clan of Highlanders) play their warmusic, the wild and high notes of the bagpipes rise above all noise.
It was often heard in the hills of Albyn, (a Gaelic name of Scotland).
As the Camerons are playing their music, the Saxons are filled with
fear. However, it puffed up the hearts of the Highland soldiers with
inborn courage in a similar way as their bagpipes were filled with
their breath.
Stanza 7: In the seventh stanza, we find the army making their way
through the forest of Ardennes, the leaves on the trees waving
above them as if they are shading tears over the heroes who would
not return home from the battlefield. The poet beautifully draws an
image in the last line of this stanza; he says that the grass on which
the army is treading will soon be covered with their corpses. The
soldiers fighting the enemy would soon be cold and lifeless.

Stanza 8: The last stanza of The Eve of Waterloo makes a

contrasting remark. The previous night, these same soldiers were
full of life and they were vigorously dancing in the party. They were
seen preparing and getting ready in their uniforms for the battle
early morning. The dark clouds of the battle surrounded the soldiers.
Finally, at the end of the day, we find the earth covered with heap of
dead bodies of thousands of men. The soldiers have lost their
identity. The bodies of soldiers, the friends or the enemies, the
horses- all lay buried in one heap, covered in blood and soil.
Rider and horse,- friend and foe,- in one red burial blent.
Analysis:
Through this poem The Eve of Waterloo, Byron wants to send a
message to the world that no war can be justified. War is something
that begins with a mans ambition but ends with destruction on all
sides. Thousands lose their lives and their homes, thousands go
astray. There is no glory in war but only death and destruction.
Form and Structure:
The poem is composed in Spenserian stanzas, named after Edmund
Spenser. In this kind of stanza, the first eight lines are in iambic
pentameter and the last line is in iambic hexameter. The rhyming
pattern is ababbcbcc.
Interjections: Byron has used a number of interjections in his poem,
The Eve of Waterloo. Some of them are Hark, Hush, Arm Ah and
Alas.
Imagery:
The imageries used in the beginning of the poem show the cheerful
mood of the soldiers dancing in the party. Beauty and Chivalry,
thousands hearts beat happily, all went merry as a marriage bell
are indications of a joyous party. A little later, there is a rapid
succession of images specifying hurry and movement. The
descriptions are so vivid that the readers can even visualize. For
example,
And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed.
The mustering squadron, and the clattering car.
The last two stanzas of The Eve of Waterloo are full of images
depicting the change in scene from celebration and fun to battle and
death. Green leaves and grass contrasts with grieves and

strife. The last line of the poem, the poet writes, Rider and
horse,- friend and foe,- in one red burial blent which symbolizes
that all soldiers and their horses are killed and blended in mud, soil
and blood.
Poetical Devices:
Figures of speech such as metaphors, similes and personification are
used in the poem.
Metaphor: And caught its tone with deaths prophetic ear.
fiery mass/ Of living valour, rolling on the foe.
Simile: to be trodden like the grass.