Analysis of Lines Written During The Castlereagh Administration
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 (Horsham) – 1822 (Lerici)
I.
Corpses are cold in the tomb;
Stones on the pavement are dumb;
Abortions are dead in the womb,
And their mothers look pale—like the death-white shore
Of Albion, free no more.
II.
Her sons are as stones in the way--
They are masses of senseless clay--
They are trodden, and move not away,--
The abortion with which SHE travaileth
Is Liberty, smitten to death.
III.
Then trample and dance, thou Oppressor!
For thy victim is no redresser;
Thou art sole lord and possessor
Of her corpses, and clods, and abortions—they pave
Thy path to the grave.
IV.
Hearest thou the festival din
Of Death, and Destruction, and Sin,
And Wealth crying 'Havoc!' within?
’Tis the bacchanal triumph that makes Truth dumb,
Thine Epithalamium.
V.
Ay, marry thy ghastly wife!
Let Fear and Disquiet and Strife
Spread thy couch in the chamber of Life!
Marry Ruin, thou Tyrant! and Hell be thy guide
To the bed of the bride!
Scheme | ABCBDD AEEEFF AGDGHH HIIICB XJJJKK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (37%) Tetractys (27%) |
Metre | 1 1011001 1101011 01011001 01101110111 1100111 1 01111001 11101101 111001101 00101111 11001011 1 110011010 1110111 11110010 101001001011 11101 1 1101001 11001001 01101001 10010101111 11 1 1101101 11001001 111001011 101011001111 101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 884 |
Words | 163 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 139 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 109 Views
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"Lines Written During The Castlereagh Administration" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29150/lines-written-during-the-castlereagh-administration>.
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