Analysis of Song. Despair
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 (Horsham) – 1822 (Lerici)
Ask not the pallid stranger's woe,
With beating heart and throbbing breast,
Whose step is faltering, weak, and slow,
As though the body needed rest.--
Whose 'wildered eye no object meets,
Nor cares to ken a friendly glance,
With silent grief his bosom beats,--
Now fixed, as in a deathlike trance.
Who looks around with fearful eye,
And shuns all converse with man kind,
As though some one his griefs might spy,
And soothe them with a kindred mind.
A friend or foe to him the same,
He looks on each with equal eye;
The difference lies but in the name,
To none for comfort can he fly.--
'Twas deep despair, and sorrow’s trace,
To him too keenly given,
Whose memory, time could not efface--
His peace was lodged in Heaven.--
He looks on all this world bestows,
The pride and pomp of power,
As trifles best for pageant shows
Which vanish in an hour.
When torn is dear affection's tie,
Sinks the soft heart full low;
It leaves without a parting sigh,
All that these realms bestow.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GEGE HIHI JKJK EAEA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Pantoum Quatrain |
Metre | 11010101 11010101 111100101 11010101 1111101 11110101 11011101 1110011 11011101 01110111 11111111 01110101 01111101 11111101 010011001 11110111 11010101 1111010 110011101 1111010 11111101 0101110 11011101 1100110 111111 101111 11010101 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 973 |
Words | 186 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 108 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 61 Views
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