Fragment: To the Mind of Man
Thou living light that in thy rainbow huesClothest this naked world; and over SeaAnd Earth and air, and all the shapes that beIn peopled darkness of this wondrous worldThe Spirit of thy glory dost diffuse... truth ... thou Vital FlameMysterious thought that in this mortal frameOf things, with unextinguished lustre burnestNow pale and faint now high to Heaven upcurledThat eer as thou dost languish still returnestAnd everBefore the ... before the Pyramids
So soon as from the Earth formless and rudeOne living step had chased drear SolitudeThou wert, Thought; thy brightness charmed the lidsOf the vast snake Eternity, who keptThe tree of good and evil.--
Words in this poem
- peopled a.
- Stocked with, or as with, people; inhabited.
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- lustre n.
- A period of five years; a lustrum. [L. lustrum: cf. F. lustre.]
- languish v. i.
- To cause to dr Shak.
- formless a.
- Shapeless; without a determinate form; wanting regularity of shape.
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fragment: To the Mind of Man 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, Fragment: To the Mind of Man, in The Complete Poetical Works, Volume II (1816–1819), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4798, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-later-poems/fragment-to-the-mind-of-man.html, id L16434.
Form and metre
Fragment: To the Mind of Man is 17 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 94% 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 ABBCADDECE-- huesA · seaB · beB · worldC · diffuseA · flameD · frameD · burnestE · upcurledC · returnestE · ever · pyramids
- 2 AA--- rudeA · solitudeA · lids · kept · evil
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thou living light that in thy rainbow hues | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| Clothest this naked world; and over Sea | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| And Earth and air, and all the shapes that be | 10 | ·········· |
| In peopled darkness of this wondrous world | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| The Spirit of thy glory dost diffuse | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| ... truth ... thou Vital Flame | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Mysterious thought that in this mortal frame | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| Of things, with unextinguished lustre burnest | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Now pale and faint now high to Heaven upcurled | 10 | ·······/·· |
| That eer as thou dost languish still returnest | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| And ever | 3 | ·/˘ |
| Before the ... before the Pyramids | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| So soon as from the Earth formless and rude | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| One living step had chased drear Solitude | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Thou wert, Thought; thy brightness charmed the lids | 10 | ····/˘·˘·· |
| Of the vast snake Eternity, who kept | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| The tree of good and evil.-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
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.