Analysis of The Wandering Jew's Soliloquy
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 (Horsham) – 1822 (Lerici)
Is it the Eternal Triune, is it He
Who dares arrest the wheels of destiny
And plunge me in the lowest Hell of Hells?
Will not the lightning's blast destroy my frame?
Will not steel drink the blood-life where it swells?
No—let me hie where dark Destruction dwells,
To rouse her from her deeply caverned lair,
And, taunting her cursed sluggishness to ire,
Light long Oblivion's death-torch at its flame
And calmly mount Annihilation's pyre.
Tyrant of Earth! pale Misery's jackal Thou!
Are there no stores of vengeful violent fate
Within the magazines of Thy fierce hate?
No poison in the clouds to bathe a brow
That lowers on Thee with desperate contempt?
Where is the noonday Pestilence that slew
The myriad sons of Israel's favoured nation?
Where the destroying Minister that flew
Pouring the fiery tide of desolation
Upon the leagued Assyrian's attempt?
Where the dark Earthquake-daemon who engorged
At the dread word Korah's unconscious crew?
Or the Angel's two-edged sword of fire that urged
Our primal parents from their bower of bliss
(Reared by Thine hand) for errors not their own
By Thine omniscient mind foredoomed, foreknown?
Yes! I would court a ruin such as this,
Almighty Tyrant! and give thanks to Thee--
Drink deeply—drain the cup of hate; remit this--I may die.
Scheme | AABCBBDECFGHHGIJKJKIHJLBMKBAN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1100101111 1101011100 0110010111 110110111 1111011111 1111110101 110101011 0100110011 11111111 0101110 101111101 11111101001 010101111 1100011101 1101111001 110110011 01001110110 1001010011 10010011010 0101101 10111011 10111101 10111111011 101010111011 1111110111 11010111 1111010111 0101001111 11010111011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,265 |
Words | 217 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 29 |
Lines Amount | 29 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,020 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 215 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 23, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 164 Views
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"The Wandering Jew's Soliloquy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29284/the-wandering-jew%27s-soliloquy>.
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