Chorus of Spirits
Palace-roof of cloudless nights!Paradise of golden lights!Deep, immeasurable, vast,Which art now, and which wert thenOf the Present and the Past,Of the eternal Where and When,Presence-chamber, temple, home,Ever-canopying dome,Of acts and ages yet to come!
Glorious shapes have life in thee,Earth, and all earth's company;Living globes which ever throngThy deep chasms and wildernesses;And green worlds that glide along;And swift stars with flashing tresses;And icy moons most cold and bright,And mighty suns beyond the night,Atoms of intensest light.
Even thy name is as a god,Heaven! for thou art the abodeOf that Power which is the glassWherein man his nature sees.Generations as they passWorship thee with bended knees.Their unremaining gods and theyLike a river roll away:Thou remainest such--alway!--
Thou art but the mind's first chamber,Round which its young fancies clamber,Like weak insects in a cave,Lighted up by stalactites;But the portal of the grave,Where a world of new delightsWill make thy best glories seemBut a dim and noonday gleamFrom the shadow of a dream!
Peace! the abyss is wreathed with scornAt your presumption, atom-born!What is Heaven? and what are yeWho its brief expanse inherit?What are suns and spheres which fleeWith the instinct of that SpiritOf which ye are but a part?Drops which Nature's mighty heartDrives through thinnest veins! Depart!
What is Heaven? a globe of dew,Filling in the morning newSome eyed flower whose young leaves wakenOn an unimagined world:Constellated suns unshaken,Orbits measureless, are furledIn that frail and fading sphere,With ten millions gathered there,To tremble, gleam, and disappear.
Words in this poem
- cloudless a.
- Without a cloud; clear; bright.
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- abode n.
- Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
- clamber v. i.
- To climb with difficulty, or with hands and feet; -- also used figuratively. [OE clambren, clameren, to heap together, climb; akin to Icel. klambra to clamp, G. klammern. Cf. Clamp, Climb.]
- stalactites n.
- A stalactite. Woodward. [NL.]
- noonday n.
- Midday; twelve o'clock in the day; noon.
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
- measureless a.
- Without measure; unlimited; immeasurable.
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chorus of Spirits 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, Chorus of Spirits, in The Complete Poetical Works, Volume II (1816–1819), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4798, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-later-poems/chorus-of-spirits.html, id L16355.
Form and metre
Chorus of Spirits is 54 lines in 6 stanzas of 9 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is AABCBCDDD, in 2 of the 6 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 32% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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 AABCBCDDD nightsA · lightsA · vastB · thenC · pastB · whenC · homeD · domeD · comeD
- 2 --A-A-BBB thee · company · throngA · wildernesses · alongA · tresses · brightB · nightB · lightB
- 3 --ABABCC- god · abode · glassA · seesB · passA · kneesB · theyC · awayC · alway
- 4 --ABABCCC chamber · clamber · caveA · stalactitesB · graveA · delightsB · seemC · gleamC · dreamC
- 5 AAB-B-CCC scornA · bornA · yeB · inherit · fleeB · spirit · partC · heartC · departC
- 6 AABCBCDDD dewA · newA · wakenB · worldC · unshakenB · furledC · sphereD · thereD · disappearD
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Palace-roof of cloudless nights! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Paradise of golden lights! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Deep, immeasurable, vast, | 7 | ·˘/˘·˘· |
| Which art now, and which wert then | 7 | ······· |
| Of the Present and the Past, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Of the eternal Where and When, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Presence-chamber, temple, home, | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| Ever-canopying dome, | 7 | /˘/˘˘˘· |
| Of acts and ages yet to come! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Glorious shapes have life in thee, | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| Earth, and all earth's company; | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Living globes which ever throng | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Thy deep chasms and wildernesses; | 9 | ··/˘·/˘˘˘ |
| And green worlds that glide along; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| And swift stars with flashing tresses; | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| And icy moons most cold and bright, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And mighty suns beyond the night, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Atoms of intensest light. | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| Even thy name is as a god, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Heaven! for thou art the abode | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| Of that Power which is the glass | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Wherein man his nature sees. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Generations as they pass | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Worship thee with bended knees. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Their unremaining gods and they | 8 | ········ |
| Like a river roll away: | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Thou remainest such--alway!-- | 7 | ·˘/˘·/˘ |
| Thou art but the mind's first chamber, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Round which its young fancies clamber, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Like weak insects in a cave, | 7 | ··/···· |
| Lighted up by stalactites; | 7 | /˘····· |
| But the portal of the grave, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Where a world of new delights | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Will make thy best glories seem | 7 | ····/˘· |
| But a dim and noonday gleam | 7 | ····/˘· |
| From the shadow of a dream! | 7 | ··/···· |
| Peace! the abyss is wreathed with scorn | 9 | ··˘/··˘·· |
| At your presumption, atom-born! | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| What is Heaven? and what are ye | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Who its brief expanse inherit? | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| What are suns and spheres which flee | 7 | ······· |
| With the instinct of that Spirit | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Of which ye are but a part? | 7 | ······· |
| Drops which Nature's mighty heart | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Drives through thinnest veins! Depart! | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| What is Heaven? a globe of dew, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Filling in the morning new | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Some eyed flower whose young leaves waken | 9 | ··/˘···/˘ |
| On an unimagined world: | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Constellated suns unshaken, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Orbits measureless, are furled | 7 | /˘/˘˘·· |
| In that frail and fading sphere, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| With ten millions gathered there, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| To tremble, gleam, and disappear. | 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.