Analysis of The Question
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 (Horsham) – 1822 (Lerici)
I dreamed that, as I wandered by the way,
Bare Winter suddenly was changed to Spring,
And gentle odours led my steps astray,
Mixed with a sound of waters murmuring
Along a shelving bank of turf, which lay
Under a copse, and hardly dared to fling
Its green arms round the bosom of the stream,
But kissed it and then fled, as thou mightest in dream.
There grew pied wind-flowers and violets,
Daisies, those pearled Arcturi of the earth,
The constellated flower that never sets;
Faint oxlips; tender bluebells, at whose birth
The sod scarce heaved; and that tall flower that wets--
Like a child, half in tenderness and mirth--
Its mother's face with Heaven's collected tears,
When the low wind, its playmate's voice, it hears.
And in the warm hedge grew lush eglantine,
Green cowbind and the moonlight-coloured may,
And cherry-blossoms, and white cups, whose wine
Was the bright dew, yet drained not by the day;
And wild roses, and ivy serpentine,
With its dark buds and leaves, wandering astray;
And flowers azure, black, and streaked with gold,
Fairer than any wakened eyes behold.
And nearer to the river's trembling edge
There grew broad flag-flowers, purple pranked with white,
And starry river buds among the sedge,
And floating water-lilies, broad and bright,
Which lit the oak that overhung the hedge
With moonlight beams of their own watery light;
And bulrushes, and reeds of such deep green
As soothed the dazzled eye with sober sheen.
Methought that of these visionary flowers
I made a nosegay, bound in such a way
That the same hues, which in their natural bowers
Were mingled or opposed, the like array
Kept these imprisoned children of the Hours
Within my hand,--and then, elate and gay,
I hastened to the spot whence I had come,
That I might there present it!--Oh! to whom?
Scheme | ABABABCC DEXEDEXX FAFAFAGG HIHIHIJJ KAKAKAXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1111110101 1101001111 010111101 1101110100 0101011111 1001010111 1111010101 11101111101 1111100100 10111101 01101101 11101111 01110111011 1011010001 11011100101 101111111 000111110 11001101 0101001111 1011111101 011001010 11110110001 0101010111 101101101 01010101001 11111010111 0101010101 0101010101 1101100101 1111111001 01011111 1101011101 111110010 110110101 101110110010 0101010101 11010101010 0111010101 1101011111 1111101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,754 |
Words | 311 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 282 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 61 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 23, 2023
- 1:34 min read
- 156 Views
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"The Question" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29272/the-question>.
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