The Isles of Greece – Stanza 8

Stanza 8

What, silent still? and silent all?
Ah! no;—the voices of the dead
Sound like a distant torrent's fall,
And answer, 'Let one living head,
But one arise,—we come, we come!'
'Tis but the living who are dumb.

My observations on Stanza 8 –

Byron goes on a disappointed and angry outburst about the lack of action prior to this point in history, this is a perspective he shared with the members of the Resistance. How could our ancestors have fought and died so courageously for our freedom yet we seem unable to?

The martyrs of ancient Greece would still return were they able to, -

'Let one living head,
But one arise,

- to die again for their land, they would gladly lay their lives down once again, it is the living people of Greece who do not realize that they have it in them.

‘“we come, we come!” Tis but the living who are dumb.’

His anger may seem out of place when one considers the events that did occur and how heroically the Revolution was fought by men, women and children; but it is important to understand that Byron wrote this poem in 1819 and it was published in 1821, the first year of the official Revolution.