Analysis of The Tower Of Famine
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 (Horsham) – 1822 (Lerici)
Amid the desolation of a city,
Which was the cradle, and is now the grave
Of an extinguished people,—so that Pity
Weeps o’er the shipwrecks of Oblivion’s wave,
There stands the Tower of Famine. It is built
Upon some prison-homes, whose dwellers rave
For bread, and gold, and blood: Pain, linked to Guilt,
Agitates the light flame of their hours,
Until its vital oil is spent or spilt.
There stands the pile, a tower amid the towers
And sacred domes; each marble-ribbed roof,
The brazen-gated temples, and the bowers
Of solitary wealth,--the tempest-proof
Pavilions of the dark Italian air,--
Are by its presence dimmed--they stand aloof,
And are withdrawn—so that the world is bare;
As if a spectre wrapped in shapeless terror
Amid a company of ladies fair
Should glide and glow, till it became a mirror
Of all their beauty, and their hair and hue,
The life of their sweet eyes, with all its error,
Should be absorbed, till they to marble grew.
Scheme | ABA BCB CDC DED EFE FGF GHGH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0100101010 1101001101 11010101110 1101111 11010110111 0111011101 1101011111 10111110 0111011111 110101001010 010111011 01010100010 110010101 0101010101 1111011101 0101110111 11010101010 0101001101 11011101010 1111001101 01111111110 1101111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 941 |
Words | 169 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4 |
Lines Amount | 22 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 106 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 17, 2023
- 50 sec read
- 143 Views
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