Antistrophe 1B
Didst thou not start to hear Spain's thrilling paeanFrom land to land re-echoed solemnly,Till silence became music? From the AeaeanTo the cold Alps, eternal ItalyStarts to hear thine! The SeaWhich paves the desert streets of Venice laughsIn light, and music; widowed Genoa wanBy moonlight spells ancestral epitaphs,Murmuring, 'Where is Doria?' fair Milan,Within whose veins long ranThe viper's palsying venom, lifts her heelTo bruise his head. The signal and the seal(If Hope and Truth and Justice can avail)Art thou of all these hopes.--O hail!
Words in this poem
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- thrilling a.
- Causing a thrill; causing tremulous excitement; deeply moving; as, a thrilling romance.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Antistrophe 1B is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #4798; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Percy Bysshe Shelley, Antistrophe 1B, in Ode to the West Wind, and Other Poems (1816–1819), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4798, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-later-poems/antistrophe-1b.html, id L16407.
Form and metre
Antistrophe 1B is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.8 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 A-A--BCBC-DDEE paeanA · solemnly · aeaeanA · italy · sea · laughsB · wanC · epitaphsB · milanC · ran · heelD · sealD · availE · hailE
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Didst thou not start to hear Spain's thrilling paean | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| From land to land re-echoed solemnly, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Till silence became music? From the Aeaean | 10 | ·/˘˘//˘··· |
| To the cold Alps, eternal Italy | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Starts to hear thine! The Sea | 6 | ······ |
| Which paves the desert streets of Venice laughs | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| In light, and music; widowed Genoa wan | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| By moonlight spells ancestral epitaphs, | 10 | ·/··˘/˘/˘· |
| Murmuring, 'Where is Doria?' fair Milan, | 10 | /˘··/˘˘·/· |
| Within whose veins long ran | 6 | ······ |
| The viper's palsying venom, lifts her heel | 10 | ·//˘˘/˘··· |
| To bruise his head. The signal and the seal | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| (If Hope and Truth and Justice can avail) | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Art thou of all these hopes.--O hail! | 8 | ········ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.