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Memorize Lepanto by G. K. Chesterton

G. K. Chesterton, 1911 · 143 lines · about 1,350 words · 8 scenes, 30 chunks · Ages 12+ · 9 to 12 minutes aloud

Chesterton’s Lepanto tells the story of a sea battle of 1571 in drums, trumpets and galloping rhythm, and it has long been a poem people learn by heart and say out loud. It is long, about ten minutes from first line to last, but it is built for memory: eight vivid scenes, a refrain that keeps coming back (“Don John of Austria …”), strong rhymes in pairs, and lines that sound like the things they describe. Learn it a few lines at a time, and in a few months the whole thing is yours.

How to learn it

The poem comes in 30 chunks of four to seven lines, one small bite of the 8 scenes. For each chunk: read it aloud and picture it; say it from first letters only; fill in the gaps as more and more words disappear; then recall it with nothing showing, by typing or saying it. Once you get a chunk word for word it is learned, and it comes back for review on day 1, 3, 7 and 21. Every so often, chain it to the chunks before it, so each line pulls the next. Last of all, the recital: the whole poem, aloud, against the clock.

Encode picture each scene → Space review on day 1, 3, 7, 21 → Retrieve say it with the page covered. From the infographic Remember It on Purpose. The methods step by step: learning a poem line by line, first-letter cues and the memory palace.

The poem

Lepanto by G. K. Chesterton

I. The Sultan's court lines 1–14

  1. White founts falling in the Courts of the sun,
  2. And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run;
  3. There is laughter like the fountains in that face of all men feared,
  4. It stirs the forest darkness, the darkness of his beard,
  5. It curls the blood-red crescent, the crescent of his lips,
  6. For the inmost sea of all the earth is shaken with his ships.
  7. They have dared the white republics up the capes of Italy,
  8. They have dashed the Adriatic round the Lion of the Sea,
  9. And the Pope has cast his arms abroad for agony and loss,
  10. And called the kings of Christendom for swords about the Cross.
  11. The cold queen of England is looking in the glass;
  12. The shadow of the Valois is yawning at the Mass;
  13. From evening isles fantastical rings faint the Spanish gun,
  14. And the Lord upon the Golden Horn is laughing in the sun.

II. Don John rides out lines 15–35

  1. Dim drums throbbing, in the hills half heard,
  2. Where only on a nameless throne a crownless prince has stirred,
  3. Where, risen from a doubtful seat and half attainted stall,
  4. The last knight of Europe takes weapons from the wall,
  5. The last and lingering troubadour to whom the bird has sung,
  6. That once went singing southward when all the world was young.
  7. In that enormous silence, tiny and unafraid,
  8. Comes up along a winding road the noise of the Crusade.
  9. Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far,
  10. Don John of Austria is going to the war,
  11. Stiff flags straining in the night-blasts cold
  12. In the gloom black-purple, in the glint old-gold,
  13. Torchlight crimson on the copper kettle-drums,
  14. Then the tuckets, then the trumpets, then the cannon, and he comes.
  15. Don John laughing in the brave beard curled,
  16. Spurning of his stirrups like the thrones of all the world,
  17. Holding his head up for a flag of all the free.
  18. Love-light of Spain—hurrah!
  19. Death-light of Africa!
  20. Don John of Austria
  21. Is riding to the sea.

III. Mahound in his paradise lines 36–47

  1. Mahound is in his paradise above the evening star,
  2. (Don John of Austria is going to the war.)
  3. He moves a mighty turban on the timeless houri's knees,
  4. His turban that is woven of the sunsets and the seas.
  5. He shakes the peacock gardens as he rises from his ease,
  6. And he strides among the tree-tops and is taller than the trees,
  7. And his voice through all the garden is a thunder sent to bring
  8. Black Azrael and Ariel and Ammon on the wing.
  9. Giants and the Genii,
  10. Multiplex of wing and eye,
  11. Whose strong obedience broke the sky
  12. When Solomon was king.

IV. The spirits gather lines 48–73

  1. They rush in red and purple from the red clouds of the morn,
  2. From temples where the yellow gods shut up their eyes in scorn;
  3. They rise in green robes roaring from the green hells of the sea
  4. Where fallen skies and evil hues and eyeless creatures be;
  5. On them the sea-valves cluster and the grey sea-forests curl,
  6. Splashed with a splendid sickness, the sickness of the pearl;
  7. They swell in sapphire smoke out of the blue cracks of the ground,—
  8. They gather and they wonder and give worship to Mahound.
  9. And he saith, "Break up the mountains where the hermit-folk can hide,
  10. And sift the red and silver sands lest bone of saint abide,
  11. And chase the Giaours flying night and day, not giving rest,
  12. For that which was our trouble comes again out of the west.
  13. We have set the seal of Solomon on all things under sun,
  14. Of knowledge and of sorrow and endurance of things done,
  15. But a noise is in the mountains, in the mountains, and I know
  16. The voice that shook our palaces—four hundred years ago:
  17. It is he that saith not 'Kismet'; it is he that knows not Fate;
  18. It is Richard, it is Raymond, it is Godfrey in the gate!
  19. It is he whose loss is laughter when he counts the wager worth,
  20. Put down your feet upon him, that our peace be on the earth."
  21. For he heard drums groaning and he heard guns jar,
  22. (Don John of Austria is going to the war.)
  23. Sudden and still—hurrah!
  24. Bolt from Iberia!
  25. Don John of Austria
  26. Is gone by Alcalar.

V. St. Michael in the North lines 74–91

  1. St. Michael's on his Mountain in the sea-roads of the north
  2. (Don John of Austria is girt and going forth.)
  3. Where the grey seas glitter and the sharp tides shift
  4. And the sea-folk labour and the red sails lift.
  5. He shakes his lance of iron and he claps his wings of stone;
  6. The noise is gone through Normandy; the noise is gone alone;
  7. The North is full of tangled things and texts and aching eyes
  8. And dead is all the innocence of anger and surprise,
  9. And Christian killeth Christian in a narrow dusty room,
  10. And Christian dreadeth Christ that hath a newer face of doom,
  11. And Christian hateth Mary that God kissed in Galilee,
  12. But Don John of Austria is riding to the sea.
  13. Don John calling through the blast and the eclipse
  14. Crying with the trumpet, with the trumpet of his lips,
  15. Trumpet that sayeth ha!
  16. Domino gloria!
  17. Don John of Austria
  18. Is shouting to the ships.

VI. King Philip's closet lines 92–107

  1. King Philip's in his closet with the Fleece about his neck
  2. (Don John of Austria is armed upon the deck.)
  3. The walls are hung with velvet that is black and soft as sin,
  4. And little dwarfs creep out of it and little dwarfs creep in.
  5. He holds a crystal phial that has colours like the moon,
  6. He touches, and it tingles, and he trembles very soon,
  7. And his face is as a fungus of a leprous white and grey
  8. Like plants in the high houses that are shuttered from the day,
  9. And death is in the phial and the end of noble work,
  10. But Don John of Austria has fired upon the Turk.
  11. Don John's hunting, and his hounds have bayed—
  12. Booms away past Italy the rumour of his raid.
  13. Gun upon gun, ha! ha!
  14. Gun upon gun, hurrah!
  15. Don John of Austria
  16. Has loosed the cannonade.

VII. The Pope's vision and the battle lines 108–137

  1. The Pope was in his chapel before day or battle broke,
  2. (Don John of Austria is hidden in the smoke.)
  3. The hidden room in man's house where God sits all the year,
  4. The secret window whence the world looks small and very dear.
  5. He sees as in a mirror on the monstrous twilight sea
  6. The crescent of his cruel ships whose name is mystery;
  7. They fling great shadows foe-wards, making Cross and Castle dark,
  8. They veil the plumèd lions on the galleys of St. Mark;
  9. And above the ships are palaces of brown, black-bearded chiefs,
  10. And below the ships are prisons, where with multitudinous griefs,
  11. Christian captives sick and sunless, all a labouring race repines
  12. Like a race in sunken cities, like a nation in the mines.
  13. They are lost like slaves that swat, and in the skies of morning hung
  14. The stair-ways of the tallest gods when tyranny was young.
  15. They are countless, voiceless, hopeless as those fallen or fleeing on
  16. Before the high Kings' horses in the granite of Babylon.
  17. And many a one grows witless in his quiet room in hell
  18. Where a yellow face looks inward through the lattice of his cell,
  19. And he finds his God forgotten, and he seeks no more a sign—
  20. (But Don John of Austria has burst the battle-line!)
  21. Don John pounding from the slaughter-painted poop,
  22. Purpling all the ocean like a bloody pirate's sloop,
  23. Scarlet running over on the silvers and the golds,
  24. Breaking of the hatches up and bursting of the holds,
  25. Thronging of the thousands up that labour under sea
  26. White for bliss and blind for sun and stunned for liberty.
  27. Vivat Hispania!
  28. Domino Gloria!
  29. Don John of Austria
  30. Has set his people free!

VIII. Cervantes lines 138–143

  1. Cervantes on his galley sets the sword back in the sheath
  2. (Don John of Austria rides homeward with a wreath.)
  3. And he sees across a weary land a straggling road in Spain,
  4. Up which a lean and foolish knight for ever rides in vain,
  5. And he smiles, but not as Sultans smile, and settles back the blade....
  6. (But Don John of Austria rides home from the Crusade.)

Text: G. K. Chesterton, Poems (New York: John Lane Company, 1915), pages 21–28, as transcribed and proofread on Wikisource (scan of the book). The poem is in the public domain. A thin line marks where each chunk starts.

A memory palace for Lepanto

The poem’s eight scenes jump from place to place: the Sultan’s court, a winding hill road, a fairy-tale paradise, a mountain in France, a king’s closet, the Pope’s chapel, the battle itself, and Cervantes on his galley. A memory palace keeps them in order. Pick a walk you know with your eyes shut, such as the rooms of your home, and put one scene in each room, as big and strange as you can make it. Then, before each scene, walk into its room in your mind, and the first lines will be waiting. Here is one way to set it up in a house; your own pictures will stick better. (How it works: the memory palace, choosing a route, speaking from a journey.)

  1. Front door Scene I, The Sultan's court · lines 1–14
    A fountain splashes on your doorstep, and a laughing sultan with a forest of a beard sits in it, ships bobbing around his feet.
  2. Hallway Scene II, Don John rides out · lines 15–35
    Drums throb in the walls. A knight takes a sword down from the coat hooks, and a parade of gongs, flags and trumpets marches past toward the sea.
  3. Living room Scene III, Mahound in his paradise · lines 36–47
    A giant in a turban rises from the sofa, taller than the lamps, peacocks in the curtains, calling three winged names.
  4. Kitchen Scene IV, The spirits gather · lines 48–73
    Spirits pour out of the sink in red, purple and green; a pearl sits in the sapphire smoke from the oven; a voice booms orders about mountains and sand.
  5. Stairs Scene V, St. Michael in the North · lines 74–91
    St. Michael stands on the landing like a stone statue on a mountain, shaking an iron lance, while grey sea-water glitters on the steps.
  6. Closet Scene VI, King Philip's closet · lines 92–107
    Open the closet: black velvet walls, little dwarfs creeping in and out, a king holding a moon-colored bottle.
  7. Bedroom Scene VII, The Pope's vision and the battle · lines 108–137
    A small chapel with a mirror. In it you see the whole battle: ships, shadows, captives below deck, then Don John bursting through and the rowers climbing into the sunlight.
  8. Back porch Scene VIII, Cervantes · lines 138–143
    A soldier sits down and slides his sword into its sheath, looking out at a long dusty road where a thin knight rides slowly away.

The refrain helps too. Five scenes end with a short four-line refrain, closing on “Don John of Austria” and what he is doing now: riding to the sea (II), gone by Alcalar (IV), shouting to the ships (V), loosing the cannonade (VI) and setting his people free (VII). The last line of all brings him home from the Crusade. Say those endings in order and you have the poem’s skeleton.

About the poem

The poet

G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) was an English writer of almost everything: newspaper columns, essays, novels, the Father Brown detective stories, books on faith such as Orthodoxy (1908), and poems. He wrote Lepanto in 1911, when he was 37; it first appeared that October in The Eye-Witness, a London weekly, and was collected in his Poems of 1915. He joined the Catholic Church in 1922, eleven years after writing it.

The battle

On 7 October 1571 AD, two great fleets of oared warships, called galleys, met in the Gulf of Patras off western Greece. On one side was the Holy League, an alliance of Spain, the Republic of Venice, the Papal States and other Catholic states, formed by Pope Pius V after the Ottoman Empire attacked Venetian Cyprus in 1570. On the other was the Ottoman fleet under Ali Pasha. The League’s commander was Don John of Austria, half-brother of King Philip II of Spain, then 24 years old. More than 200 galleys fought on each side. The League won: most of the Ottoman galleys were captured or sunk, Ali Pasha was killed, and thousands of Christian captives who had been rowing the Ottoman ships were set free. Losses were heavy on both sides. The Ottomans rebuilt their fleet within about a year, and in 1573 Venice made peace and gave up Cyprus. A young Spanish soldier named Miguel de Cervantes fought on the League side and was wounded; he later wrote Don Quixote, and the poem ends with him.

Whose story it tells

The poem tells the battle from the Holy League’s side, as its author saw it in 1911, and its pictures of the Ottomans and of Islam come from old European legend and insult (such as the medieval name “Mahound”), not from what Muslims believe (Grokipedia: Mahound).

Names and odd words

Soldan of Byzantium line 2
An old word for sultan. Here it is the Ottoman sultan, ruling from Constantinople (old Byzantium), which the Ottomans had taken in 1453 AD. In 1571 the sultan was Selim II. More
the inmost sea line 6
The Mediterranean, the sea in the middle of the lands around it.
the white republics line 7
The Italian sea-trading republics, such as Venice and Genoa.
the Lion of the Sea line 8
Venice, whose emblem is the winged lion of St. Mark. The Adriatic is the sea beside it.
the Pope lines 9, 108
Pius V, who brought Spain, Venice and other Catholic states together in the Holy League of 1571. More
the cold queen of England line 11
Elizabeth I. England, a Protestant country by then, did not join the League. More
the shadow of the Valois line 12
The Valois were the royal house of France. France stayed out of the League and had long had a working alliance with the Ottomans. More
the Golden Horn line 14
The harbor inlet of Constantinople (Istanbul). “The Lord upon the Golden Horn” is the sultan. More
a crownless prince line 16
Don John was the son of Emperor Charles V, born outside marriage, so he could never inherit a crown. “A doubtful seat and half attainted stall” (line 17) points to the same thing.
troubadour line 19
A poet-singer of the Middle Ages, especially in southern France.
Don John of Austria lines 24 and the refrains
John of Austria (1547–1578), half-brother of King Philip II of Spain. He commanded the Holy League fleet at Lepanto when he was 24. More
tuckets line 28
Flourishes on a trumpet, an old word that Shakespeare uses in his stage directions.
Mahound lines 36, 55
An old European form of the name Muhammad, used in medieval Christian writing as an insult and to picture him as an idol or a demon. The poem's Mahound, a giant in a fairy-tale garden, comes from that European legend, not from what Muslims believe. More
houri line 38
In Islamic tradition, a companion of the blessed in paradise. More
Azrael, Ariel, Ammon line 43
Azrael is the angel of death in Islamic and Jewish folklore. Ariel is a spirit's name (Shakespeare gives it to the spirit in The Tempest). Ammon is Amun, a god of ancient Egypt. Chesterton gathers them for their sound and strangeness. More
Genii line 44
Jinn: spirits of Arabian folklore and of Islamic belief. More
Solomon; the seal of Solomon lines 47, 60
In Jewish and Islamic legend, King Solomon ruled the spirits with a magic seal ring. More
sea-valves line 52
The hinged shells of shellfish such as oysters and clams.
Giaours line 58
A Turkish word for non-Muslims, used as an insult. Say it “JOW-ers” (rhymes with “towers”). More
Kismet line 64
Fate, in Turkish (from Arabic). The poem means a man who won't accept that the end is already written.
Richard, Raymond, Godfrey line 65
Leaders of the Crusades: Richard the Lionheart (Third Crusade, 1189–1192), and Raymond of Toulouse and Godfrey of Bouillon (First Crusade, 1096–1099). “Four hundred years ago” (line 63) is rounded: the First Crusade was about 470 years before Lepanto. More
Iberia line 71
The peninsula of Spain and Portugal.
St. Michael's on his Mountain line 74
Mont-Saint-Michel, the island abbey off Normandy in northern France. The archangel Michael is shown with wings and a lance. More
girt line 75
With his sword belted on.
Christian killeth Christian lines 82–84
The wars of religion between Catholics and Protestants in northern Europe in the 1500s, seen here from Chesterton's side.
Domino gloria lines 89, 135
Latin: “Glory to the Lord!”
King Philip; the Fleece line 92
Philip II of Spain, Don John's half-brother. The Fleece is the Order of the Golden Fleece, a knightly order whose badge is a golden ram's fleece. The poem paints him as a gloomy schemer; historians give a fuller picture. More
phial lines 96, 100
A small glass bottle.
cannonade line 107
Steady cannon fire.
the galleys of St. Mark; plumèd lions line 115
The Venetian galleys, flying the winged lion of St. Mark. The accent on plumèd means you say it in two syllables: PLOO-med.
Christian captives lines 118–133
Galleys were rowed by oarsmen, many of them captives and convicts on both sides. After the battle, thousands of Christian captives were freed from the Ottoman galleys. More
swat line 120
An old past tense of sweat: “slaves that sweated.”
Babylon line 123
The great city of ancient Mesopotamia, famous in the Bible for the exile of the people of Judah.
poop; sloop lines 128, 129
The poop is the raised deck at the back of a ship; a sloop is a small one-masted sailing ship.
Vivat Hispania line 134
Latin: “Long live Spain!”
Cervantes; the lean and foolish knight lines 138–141
Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) fought at Lepanto and was wounded; his left hand never worked again. Years later he wrote Don Quixote, about a lean old gentleman who rides out as a knight in vain. That is the knight he “sees” in line 141. More

Who has known it by heart?

  • John Buchan, the Scottish novelist, wrote to Chesterton in June 1915, during the First World War: “The other day in the trenches we shouted your Lepanto.” (Quoted in Ian Ker’s biography of Chesterton, 2011.)
  • J. R. R. Tolkien admired the poem, and his daughter Priscilla remembered that he enjoyed reciting it (Holly Ordway, “Tolkien’s Reading of Chesterton”). We found no record that says whether he could say all 143 lines from memory.
  • Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter, is said to have known the whole poem by heart. It is a good story, but we could not find it in a source we could check, so we leave it as a story.
  • How long it takes: the poem has 1,353 words. Dramatic poetry is usually read aloud at about 110 to 150 words a minute, which gives 9 to 12 minutes; a brisk, galloping recital takes about 8. The LibriVox recording of Chesterton’s Poems gives Lepanto a track of 9 minutes 40 seconds, short spoken introduction included.

Sources

More: all memory challenges · the Gettysburg Address · memory games.