Fragments Written for Hellas
Fairest of the Destinies,Disarray thy dazzling eyes:Keener far thy lightnings areThan the winged [bolts] thou bearest,And the smile thou wearestWraps thee as a starIs wrapped in light.
Could Arethuse to her forsaken urnFrom Alpheus and the bitter Doris run,Or could the morning shafts of purest lightAgain into the quivers of the SunBe gathered--could one thought from its wild flightReturn into the temple of the brainWithout a change, without a stain,--Could aught that is, ever againBe what it once has ceased to be,Greece might again be free!
A star has fallen upon the earthMid the benighted nations,A quenchless atom of immortal light,A living spark of Night,A cresset shaken from the constellations.Swifter than the thunder fellTo the heart of Earth, the wellWhere its pulses flow and beat,And unextinct in that cold sourceBurns, and on ... courseGuides the sphere which is its prison,Like an angelic spirit pentIn a form of mortal birth,Till, as a spirit half-arisenShatters its charnel, it has rent,In the rapture of its mirth,The thin and painted garment of the Earth,Ruining its chaos--a fierce breathConsuming all its forms of living death.
Words in this poem
- disarray v. t.
- To throw into disorder; to break the array of. [Pref. dis- + array, v.: cf. OF. desarroyer, desarreier.]
- keener n.
- A professional mourner who wails at a funeral. [Ireland]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- quenchless a.
- Incapable of being quenched; inextinguishable; as, quenchless fire or fury.
- cresset n.
- An open frame or basket of iron, filled with combustible material, to be burned as a beacon; an open lamp or firrepan carried on a pole in nocturnal processions. [OF. crasset, cresset, sort of lamp or torch; perh. of Dutch or German origin, and akin to E. cruse, F. creuset crucible, E. crucible.]
- swifter v. t.
- To tighten, as slack standing rigging, by bringing the opposite shrouds nearer.
- pent p. p.
- Penned or shut up; confined; -- often with up. [From Pen, v. t.]
- chaos n.
- An empty, immeasurable space; a yawning chasm. [L. chaos chaos (in senses 1 & 2), Gr. Chasm.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fragments Written for Hellas 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, Fragments Written for Hellas, 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/fragments-written-for-hellas.html, id L16453.
Form and metre
Fragments Written for Hellas is 36 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 47% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 AABCCB- destiniesA · eyesA · areB · bearestC · wearestC · starB · light
- 2 -ABABCCCDD urn · runA · lightB · sunA · flightB · brainC · stainC · againC · beD · freeD
- 3 ABCCBDD-EEFGAFGAAHH earthA · nationsB · lightC · nightC · constellationsB · fellD · wellD · beat · sourceE · courseE · prisonF · pentG · birthA · arisenF · rentG · mirthA · earthA · breathH · deathH
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Fairest of the Destinies, | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| Disarray thy dazzling eyes: | 8 | ·˘/·/˘˘· |
| Keener far thy lightnings are | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Than the winged [bolts] thou bearest, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And the smile thou wearest | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Wraps thee as a star | 5 | ····· |
| Is wrapped in light. | 4 | ···· |
| Could Arethuse to her forsaken urn | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| From Alpheus and the bitter Doris run, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Or could the morning shafts of purest light | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Again into the quivers of the Sun | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Be gathered--could one thought from its wild flight | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Return into the temple of the brain | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Without a change, without a stain,-- | 8 | ········ |
| Could aught that is, ever again | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| Be what it once has ceased to be, | 8 | ········ |
| Greece might again be free! | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| A star has fallen upon the earth | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Mid the benighted nations, | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| A quenchless atom of immortal light, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| A living spark of Night, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| A cresset shaken from the constellations. | 11 | ·/˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| Swifter than the thunder fell | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| To the heart of Earth, the well | 7 | ······· |
| Where its pulses flow and beat, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And unextinct in that cold source | 8 | ········ |
| Burns, and on ... course | 4 | ···· |
| Guides the sphere which is its prison, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Like an angelic spirit pent | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In a form of mortal birth, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Till, as a spirit half-arisen | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| Shatters its charnel, it has rent, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| In the rapture of its mirth, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The thin and painted garment of the Earth, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Ruining its chaos--a fierce breath | 9 | /˘˘·/˘··· |
| Consuming all its forms of living death. | 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.