Analysis of I Would Not Be A King
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 (Horsham) – 1822 (Lerici)
I would not be a king--enough
Of woe it is to love;
The path to power is steep and rough,
And tempests reign above.
I would not climb the imperial throne;
’Tis built on ice which fortune’s sun
Thaws in the height of noon.
Then farewell, king, yet were I one,
Care would not come so soon.
Would he and I were far away
Keeping flocks on Himalay!
Scheme | ABABCDEDEFG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101 111111 011101101 01101 1111001001 11111101 100111 1111011 111111 11010101 10111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 347 |
Words | 70 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 11 |
Lines Amount | 11 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 262 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 68 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 21 sec read
- 513 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"I Would Not Be A King" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29136/i-would-not-be-a-king>.
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