Analysis of Fragment: Yes! All Is Past
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 (Horsham) – 1822 (Lerici)
Yes! all is past--swift time has fled away,
Yet its swell pauses on my sickening mind;
How long will horror nerve this frame of clay?
I’m dead, and lingers yet my soul behind.
Oh! powerful Fate, revoke thy deadly spell,
And yet that may not ever, ever be,
Heaven will not smile upon the work of Hell;
Ah! no, for Heaven cannot smile on me;
Fate, envious Fate, has sealed my wayward destiny.
I sought the cold brink of the midnight surge,
I sighed beneath its wave to hide my woes,
The rising tempest sung a funeral dirge,
And on the blast a frightful yell arose.
Wild flew the meteors o'er the maddened main,
Wilder did grief athwart my bosom glare;
Stilled was the unearthly howling, and a strain,
Swelled mid the tumult of the battling air,
'Twas like a spirit's song, but yet more soft and fair.
I met a maniac—like he was to me,
I said--'Poor victim, wherefore dost thou roam?
And canst thou not contend with agony,
That thus at midnight thou dost quit thine home?'
'Ah there she sleeps: cold is her bloodless form,
And I will go to slumber in her grave;
And then our ghosts, whilst raves the maddened storm,
Will sweep at midnight o’er the wildered wave;
Wilt thou our lowly beds with tears of pity lave?'
'Ah! no, I cannot shed the pitying tear,
This breast is cold, this heart can feel no more--
But I can rest me on thy chilling bier,
Can shriek in horror to the tempest's roar.'
Scheme | ABABCDCDD EFEFGHGHH DIDIJKJKK HLXL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111111101 11110111001 1111011111 1101011101 11001011101 0111110101 10111010111 1111010111 1100111110100 110111011 1101111111 01010101001 0101010101 11010010011 1011011101 11001010001 11010101001 110101111101 1101011111 111101111 0111011100 111111111 1111110101 0111110001 0110111011 11111011 1110101111101 11110101001 1111111111 1111111101 110101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,376 |
Words | 264 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 9, 4 |
Lines Amount | 31 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 266 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 65 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 16, 2023
- 1:19 min read
- 144 Views
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"Fragment: Yes! All Is Past" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29107/fragment%3A-yes%21-all-is-past>.
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