Analysis of From "Adonais," 49-52
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 (Horsham) – 1822 (Lerici)
Go thou to Rome,--at once the Paradise,
The grave, the city, and the wilderness;
And where its wrecks like shattered mountains rise,
And flowering weeds, and fragrant copses dress
The bones of Desolation's nakedness
Pass, till the spirit of the spot shall lead
Thy footsteps to a slope of green access
Where, like an infant's smile, over the dead
A light of laughing flowers along the grass is spread;
And gray walls moulder round, on which dull Time
Feeds, like slow fire upon a hoary brand;
And one keen pyramid with wedge sublime,
Pavilioning the dust of him who planned
This refuge for his memory, doth stand
Like flame transformed to marble; and beneath,
A field is spread, on which a newer band
Have pitched in Heaven's smile their camp of death,
Welcoming him we lose with scarce extinguished breath.
Here pause: these graves are all too young as yet
To have outgrown the sorrow which consigned
Its charge to each; and if the seal is set,
Here, on one fountain of a mourning mind,
Break it not thou! too surely shalt thou find
Thine own well full, if thou returnest home,
Of tears and gall. From the world's bitter wind
Seek shelter in the shadow of the tomb.
What Adonais is, why fear we to become?
The One remains, the many change and pass;
Heaven's light forever shines, Earth's shadows fly;
Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass,
Stains the white radiance of Eternity,
Until Death tramples it to fragments.--Die,
If thou wouldst be with that which thou dost seek!
Follow where all is fled!--Rome's azure sky,
Flowers, ruins, statues, music, words, are weak
The glory they transfuse with fitting truth to speak.
Scheme | AXXBACBCC DEDEEXEFF GHGHHXHXX IJIXJKJKK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111010 0101000100 0111110101 0100101011 01111 1101010111 11101111 1111011001 0111010010111 0111011111 11110010101 0111001101 1011111 1101110011 1101110001 0111110101 1101011111 100111110101 1111111111 111010101 1111010111 1111010101 1111110111 11111111 1101101101 110001101 111111101 0101010101 1010101111 1101110101 10110010100 0111011101 1111111111 1011111101 1010110111 010101110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,615 |
Words | 295 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 319 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 71 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:30 min read
- 96 Views
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"From "Adonais," 49-52" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29111/from-%22adonais%2C%22-49-52>.
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