Epode 2B
Great Spirit, deepest Love!Which rulest and dost moveAll things which live and are, within the Italian shore;Who spreadest Heaven around it,Whose woods, rocks, waves, surround it;Who sittest in thy star, o'er Ocean's western floor;Spirit of beauty! at whose soft commandThe sunbeams and the showers distil its foisonFrom the Earth's bosom chill;Oh, bid those beams be each a blinding brandOf lightning! bid those showers be dews of poison!Bid the Earth's plenty kill!Bid thy bright Heaven above,Whilst light and darkness bound it,Be their tomb who plannedTo make it ours and thine!Or, with thine harmonizing ardours fillAnd raise thy sons, as o'er the prone horizonThy lamp feeds every twilight wave with fire--Be man's high hope and unextinct desireThe instrument to work thy will divine!Then clouds from sunbeams, antelopes from leopards,And frowns and fears from thee,Would not more swiftly fleeThan Celtic wolves from the Ausonian shepherds.--Whatever, Spirit, from thy starry shrineThou yieldest or withholdest, oh, let beThis city of thy worship ever free!
Words in this poem
- foison n.
- Rich harvest; plenty; abundance. Lowell. [F. foison, fr. L. fusio a pouring, effusion. See Fusion.]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Epode 2B 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, Epode 2B, in The Complete Poetical Works, Volume II (1816–1819), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4798, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-later-poems/epode-2b.html, id L16410.
Form and metre
Epode 2B is 28 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes AABCCBDEFDEFACDGFGHHGIJJIGJJ. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter. 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 39% 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 AABCCBDEFDEFACDGFGHHGIJJIGJJ loveA · moveA · shoreB · itC · itC · floorB · commandD · foisonE · chillF · brandD · poisonE · killF · aboveA · itC · plannedD · thineG · fillF · horizonG · fireH · desireH · divineG · leopardsI · theeJ · fleeJ · shepherdsI · shrineG · beJ · freeJ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Great Spirit, deepest Love! | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Which rulest and dost move | 6 | ······ |
| All things which live and are, within the Italian shore; | 13 | ·········˘/˘· |
| Who spreadest Heaven around it, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Whose woods, rocks, waves, surround it; | 7 | ····˘/· |
| Who sittest in thy star, o'er Ocean's western floor; | 12 | ·/˘····/˘/˘· |
| Spirit of beauty! at whose soft command | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| The sunbeams and the showers distil its foison | 11 | ·/···/˘/·/˘ |
| From the Earth's bosom chill; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Oh, bid those beams be each a blinding brand | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of lightning! bid those showers be dews of poison! | 11 | ·/˘··/···/˘ |
| Bid the Earth's plenty kill! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Bid thy bright Heaven above, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Whilst light and darkness bound it, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Be their tomb who planned | 5 | ····· |
| To make it ours and thine! | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Or, with thine harmonizing ardours fill | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| And raise thy sons, as o'er the prone horizon | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Thy lamp feeds every twilight wave with fire-- | 11 | ···/˘/···/˘ |
| Be man's high hope and unextinct desire | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| The instrument to work thy will divine! | 10 | ·/˘˘····˘/ |
| Then clouds from sunbeams, antelopes from leopards, | 11 | ···/·/˘··/˘ |
| And frowns and fears from thee, | 6 | ······ |
| Would not more swiftly flee | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Than Celtic wolves from the Ausonian shepherds.-- | 12 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Whatever, Spirit, from thy starry shrine | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Thou yieldest or withholdest, oh, let be | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| This city of thy worship ever free! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
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.