Analysis of Fragment, Or The Triumph Of Conscience

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



'Twas dead of the night when I sate in my dwelling,
One glimmering lamp was expiring and low,--
Around the dark tide of the tempest was swelling,
Along the wild mountains night-ravens were yelling,
They bodingly presaged destruction and woe!

'Twas then that I started, the wild storm was howling,
Nought was seen, save the lightning that danced on the sky,
Above me the crash of the thunder was rolling,
And low, chilling murmurs the blast wafted by.--

My heart sank within me, unheeded the jar
Of the battling clouds on the mountain-tops broke,
Unheeded the thunder-peal crashed in mine ear,
This heart hard as iron was stranger to fear,
But conscience in low noiseless whispering spoke.
’Twas then that her form on the whirlwind uprearing,
The dark ghost of the murdered Victoria strode,
Her right hand a blood reeking dagger was bearing,
She swiftly advanced to my lonesome abode.--
I wildly then called on the tempest to bear me!
...
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Scheme ABAAB ACAC XDXXDAEAEX
Poetic Form
Metre 111011110110 11001101001 010111010110 010110110010 111001001 111110011110 111101011101 011011010110 01101001101 11101101001 101001101011 01001011011 11111011011 1100111001 111011011 011101001001 011011010110 11001111001 110111010111 1 1
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 933
Words 165
Sentences 8
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 5, 4, 12
Lines Amount 21
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 247
Words per stanza (avg) 54
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

49 sec read
98

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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