Analysis of An Exhortation
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 (Horsham) – 1822 (Lerici)
Chameleons feed on light and air:
Poets' food is love and fame:
If in this wide world of care
Poets could but find the same
With as little toil as they,
Would they ever change their hue
As the light chameleons do,
Suiting it to every ray
Twenty times a day?
Poets are on this cold earth,
As chameleons might be,
Hidden from their early birth
In a cave beneath the sea;
Where light is, chameleons change:
Where love is not, poets do:
Fame is love disguised: if few
Find either, never think it strange
That poets range.
Yet dare not stain with wealth or power
A poet's free and heavenly mind:
If bright chameleons should devour
Any food but beams and wind,
They would grow as earthly soon
As their brother lizards are.
Children of a sunnier star,
Spirits from beyond the moon,
O, refuse the boon!
Scheme | ABABCDDCC EFEFGDDGG HIHIJKKJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111101 1011101 1011111 1011101 1110111 1110111 10111 10111001 10101 1011111 1111 1011101 0010101 11111 1111101 1110111 11010111 1101 111111110 010101001 1111010 1011101 1111101 1110101 101011 1010101 10101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 802 |
Words | 150 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 27 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 208 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 49 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 118 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"An Exhortation" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29035/an-exhortation>.
Discuss this Percy Bysshe Shelley poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In