From the Original Draft of the Poem to William Shelley
The world is now our dwelling-place;Where'er the earth one fading traceOf what was great and free does keep,That is our home!...Mild thoughts of man's ungentle raceShall our contented exile reap;For who that in some happy placeHis own free thoughts can freely chaseBy woods and waves can clothe his faceIn cynic smiles? Child! we shall weep.
This lament,The memory of thy grievous wrongWill fade...But genius is omnipotentTo hallow...
Words in this poem
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- ungentle a.
- Not gentle; lacking good breeding or delicacy; harsh.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
- cynic a.
- Having the qualities of a surly dog; snarling; captious; currish. [L. cynicus of the sect of Cynics, fr. Gr. Hound.]
- hallow v. t.
- To make holy; to set apart for holy or religious use; to consecrate; to treat or keep as sacred; to reverence. [OE. halowen, halwien, halgien, AS. halgian, fr. halig holy. See Holy.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
From the Original Draft of the Poem to William Shelley 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, From the Original Draft of the Poem to William Shelley, in The Complete Poetical Works, Volume II (1816–1819), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4798, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-later-poems/from-the-original-draft-of-the-poem-to-william-shelley.html, id L16317.
Form and metre
From the Original Draft of the Poem to William Shelley is 15 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 2 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 AAB-ABAAAB placeA · traceA · keepB · home · raceA · reapB · placeA · chaseA · faceA · weepB
- 2 A--A- lamentA · wrong · fade · omnipotentA · hallow
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The world is now our dwelling-place; | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| Where'er the earth one fading trace | 9 | ˘˘/···/˘· |
| Of what was great and free does keep, | 8 | ········ |
| That is our home!... | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Mild thoughts of man's ungentle race | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Shall our contented exile reap; | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘/·· |
| For who that in some happy place | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| His own free thoughts can freely chase | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| By woods and waves can clothe his face | 8 | ········ |
| In cynic smiles? Child! we shall weep. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| This lament, | 3 | ·˘/ |
| The memory of thy grievous wrong | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| Will fade... | 2 | ·· |
| But genius is omnipotent | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| To hallow... | 3 | ·/˘ |
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.