Analysis of Sonnet To Byron

Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 (Horsham) – 1822 (Lerici)



[I am afraid these verses will not please you, but]

If I esteemed you less, Envy would kill
Pleasure, and leave to Wonder and Despair
The ministration of the thoughts that fill
The mind which, like a worm whose life may share
A portion of the unapproachable,
Marks your creations rise as fast and fair
As perfect worlds at the Creator’s will.

But such is my regard that nor your power
To soar above the heights where others [climb],
Nor fame, that shadow of the unborn hour
Cast from the envious future on the time,
Move one regret for his unhonoured name
Who dares these words:--the worm beneath the sod
May lift itself in homage of the God.


Scheme X ABABABA CDCDDEE
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 110111011111 1101111011 1001110001 001010111 0111011111 010101 1101011101 1011100101 11110111110 1101011101 1111101110 11010010101 11011111 1111010101 1101010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 640
Words 121
Sentences 3
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 1, 7, 7
Lines Amount 15
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 170
Words per stanza (avg) 39
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 21, 2023

36 sec read
288

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is regarded by critics as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. more…

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