Analysis of Epigram IV: Circumstance
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 (Horsham) – 1822 (Lerici)
From the Greek.
A man who was about to hang himself,
Finding a purse, then threw away his rope;
The owner, coming to reclaim his pelf,
The halter found; and used it. So is Hope
Changed for Despair--one laid upon the shelf,
We take the other. Under Heaven’s high cope
Fortune is God—all you endure and do
Depends on circumstance as much as you.
| Scheme | X ABABABCC |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 101 0111011101 1001110111 0101010111 0101011111 1101110101 11010101011 1011110101 011101111 |
| Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
| Characters | 347 |
| Words | 66 |
| Sentences | 5 |
| Stanzas | 2 |
| Stanza Lengths | 1, 8 |
| Lines Amount | 9 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
| Words per line (avg) | 7 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 133 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 05, 2023
- 19 sec read
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"Epigram IV: Circumstance" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29059/epigram-iv%3A-circumstance>.
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