Analysis of To Jane: The Keen Stars Were Twinkling

Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 (Horsham) – 1822 (Lerici)



I.
The keen stars were twinkling,
And the fair moon was rising among them,
Dear Jane.
The guitar was tinkling,
But the notes were not sweet till you sung them
Again.

II.
As the moon's soft splendour
O'er the faint cold starlight of Heaven
Is thrown,
So your voice most tender
To the strings without soul had then given
Its own.

III.
The stars will awaken,
Though the moon sleep a full hour later
To-night;
No leaf will be shaken
Whilst the dews of your melody scatter
Delight.

IV.
Though the sound overpowers,
Sing again, with your dear voice revealing
A tone
Of some world far from ours,
Where music and moonlight and feeling
Are one.


Scheme ABCXBCX ADEFDEF AEDGEDG XHBFHBE
Poetic Form
Metre 1 0110100 0011110011 11 0011100 1010111111 01 1 10111 100111110 11 111110 1010111110 11 1 011010 1011011010 11 111110 1011110010 01 1 101010 1011111010 01 1111110 11001010 11
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 616
Words 118
Sentences 10
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 7, 7, 7, 7
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 18
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 125
Words per stanza (avg) 29
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 06, 2023

36 sec read
120

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is regarded by critics as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. more…

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