Hymn of Pan
From the forests and highlandsWe come, we come;From the river-girt islands,Where loud waves are dumbListening to my sweet pipings.The wind in the reeds and the rushes,The bees on the bells of thyme,The birds on the myrtle bushes,The cicale above in the lime,And the lizards below in the grass,Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was,Listening to my sweet pipings.
Liquid Peneus was flowing,And all dark Tempe layIn Pelion's shadow, outgrowingThe light of the dying day,Speeded by my sweet pipings.The Sileni, and Sylvans, and Fauns,And the Nymphs of the woods and the waves,To the edge of the moist river-lawns,And the brink of the dewy caves,And all that did then attend and follow,Were silent with love, as you now, Apollo,With envy of my sweet pipings.
I sang of the dancing stars,I sang of the daedal Earth,And of Heaven--and the giant wars,And Love, and Death, and Birth,--And then I changed my pipings,--Singing how down the vale of MaenalusI pursued a maiden and clasped a reed.Gods and men, we are all deluded thus!It breaks in our bosom and then we bleed:All wept, as I think both ye now would,If envy or age had not frozen your blood,At the sorrow of my sweet pipings.
Words in this poem
- girt v. t.
- To gird; to encircle; to invest by means of a girdle; to measure the girth of; as, to girt a tree. [From Girt, n., cf. Girth, v.]
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hymn of Pan 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, Hymn of Pan, in The Complete Poetical Works, Volume II (1816–1819), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4798, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-later-poems/hymn-of-pan.html, id L16398.
Form and metre
Hymn of Pan is 36 lines in 3 stanzas of 12 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 14 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% 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 ABABC-DED-EC highlandsA · comeB · islandsA · dumbB · pipingsC · rushes · thymeD · bushesE · limeD · grass · wasE · pipingsC
- 2 ABABCDEDEFFC flowingA · layB · outgrowingA · dayB · pipingsC · faunsD · wavesE · lawnsD · cavesE · followF · apolloF · pipingsC
- 3 -A-AB-C-CDDB stars · earthA · wars · birthA · pipingsB · maenalus · reedC · thus · bleedC · wouldD · bloodD · pipingsB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| From the forests and highlands | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| We come, we come; | 4 | ···· |
| From the river-girt islands, | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| Where loud waves are dumb | 5 | ····· |
| Listening to my sweet pipings. | 8 | /˘˘···/˘ |
| The wind in the reeds and the rushes, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| The bees on the bells of thyme, | 7 | ······· |
| The birds on the myrtle bushes, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| The cicale above in the lime, | 9 | ········· |
| And the lizards below in the grass, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was, | 10 | ··/˘·/···· |
| Listening to my sweet pipings. | 8 | /˘˘···/˘ |
| Liquid Peneus was flowing, | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| And all dark Tempe lay | 6 | ···/˘· |
| In Pelion's shadow, outgrowing | 8 | ···/·/·˘ |
| The light of the dying day, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Speeded by my sweet pipings. | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| The Sileni, and Sylvans, and Fauns, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| And the Nymphs of the woods and the waves, | 9 | ········· |
| To the edge of the moist river-lawns, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And the brink of the dewy caves, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And all that did then attend and follow, | 10 | ·····˘/·/˘ |
| Were silent with love, as you now, Apollo, | 11 | ·/˘·····˘/˘ |
| With envy of my sweet pipings. | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| I sang of the dancing stars, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| I sang of the daedal Earth, | 7 | ······· |
| And of Heaven--and the giant wars, | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| And Love, and Death, and Birth,-- | 6 | ······ |
| And then I changed my pipings,-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Singing how down the vale of Maenalus | 10 | /˘········ |
| I pursued a maiden and clasped a reed. | 10 | ·˘/·/˘···· |
| Gods and men, we are all deluded thus! | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| It breaks in our bosom and then we bleed: | 10 | ···//˘···· |
| All wept, as I think both ye now would, | 9 | ········· |
| If envy or age had not frozen your blood, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| At the sorrow of my sweet pipings. | 9 | ··/˘···/˘ |
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.