Analysis of Lines Written in the Bay of Lerici
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 (Horsham) – 1822 (Lerici)
She left me at the silent time
When the moon had ceas'd to climb
The azure path of Heaven's steep,
And like an albatross asleep,
Balanc'd on her wings of light,
Hover'd in the purple night,
Ere she sought her ocean nest
In the chambers of the West.
She left me, and I stay'd alone
Thinking over every tone
Which, though silent to the ear,
The enchanted heart could hear,
Like notes which die when born, but still
Haunt the echoes of the hill;
And feeling ever--oh, too much!--
The soft vibration of her touch,
As if her gentle hand, even now,
Lightly trembled on my brow;
And thus, although she absent were,
Memory gave me all of her
That even Fancy dares to claim:
Her presence had made weak and tame
All passions, and I lived alone
In the time which is our own;
The past and future were forgot,
As they had been, and would be, not.
But soon, the guardian angel gone,
The daemon reassum'd his throne
In my faint heart. I dare not speak
My thoughts, but thus disturb'd and weak
I sat and saw the vessels glide
Over the ocean bright and wide,
Like spirit-winged chariots sent
O'er some serenest element
For ministrations strange and far,
As if to some Elysian star
Sailed for drink to medicine
Such sweet and bitter pain as mine.
And the wind that wing'd their flight
From the land came fresh and light,
And the scent of winged flowers,
And the coolness of the hours
Of dew, and sweet warmth left by day,
Were scatter'd o'er the twinkling bay.
And the fisher with his lamp
And spear about the low rocks damp
Crept, and struck the fish which came
To worship the delusive flame.
Too happy they, whose pleasure sought
Extinguishes all sense and thought
Of the regret that pleasure leaves,
Destroying life alone, not peace!
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKEELLMENNOOPQRRSTCCUUVVWWKKXXYZ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101 1011111 01011101 0111001 1010111 1000101 1110101 0010101 11101101 10101001 1110101 0010111 11111111 1010101 01010111 01010101 110101101 1010111 0111100 10011110 11010111 01011101 11001101 00111101 01010001 11110111 110100101 01000111 01111111 11110101 11010101 10010101 11011001 1011100 1010101 111111 1111100 11010111 0011111 1011101 0011110 00101010 11011111 0101001001 0010111 01010111 1010111 110011 11011101 11101 10011101 01010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,794 |
Words | 319 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 52 |
Lines Amount | 52 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,343 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 316 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 14, 2023
- 1:39 min read
- 173 Views
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"Lines Written in the Bay of Lerici" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29151/lines-written-in-the-bay-of-lerici>.
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