Liberty
The fiery mountains answer each other;Their thunderings are echoed from zone to zone;The tempestuous oceans awake one another,And the ice-rocks are shaken round Winter's throne,When the clarion of the Typhoon is blown.
From a single cloud the lightening flashes,Whilst a thousand isles are illumined around,Earthquake is trampling one city to ashes,An hundred are shuddering and tottering; the soundIs bellowing underground.
But keener thy gaze than the lightening's glare,And swifter thy step than the earthquake's tramp;Thou deafenest the rage of the ocean; thy stareMakes blind the volcanoes; the sun's bright lampTo thine is a fen-fire damp.
From billow and mountain and exhalationThe sunlight is darted through vapour and blast;From spirit to spirit, from nation to nation,From city to hamlet thy dawning is cast,--And tyrants and slaves are like shadows of nightIn the van of the morning light.
Words in this poem
- clarion n.
- A kind of trumpet, whose note is clear and shrill. [OE. clarioun, OF. clarion, F. clairon, LL. clario, claro; so called from its clear tone, fr. L. clarus clear. See Clear.]
- typhoon n.
- A violent whirlwind; specifically, a violent whirlwind occurring in the Chinese seas. [Earlier tuffoon, tuffon, Pg. tufao, Ar. tufan a violent storm; probably fr. Gr. tyfw^n, tyfw^s, a violent whirlwind, that rushes upward from the earth, whirling]
- keener n.
- A professional mourner who wails at a funeral. [Ireland]
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- swifter v. t.
- To tighten, as slack standing rigging, by bringing the opposite shrouds nearer.
- billow n.
- A great wave or surge of the sea or other water, caused usually by violent wind. [Cf. Icel. bylgja billow, Dan. bölge, Sw. bölja; akin to MHG. bulge billow, bag, and to E. bulge. See Bulge.]
- vapour n.
- Any substance in the gaseous, or aëriform, state, the condition of which is ordinarily that of a liquid or solid. [OE. vapour, OF. vapour, vapor, vapeur, F. vapeur, L. vapor; probably for cvapor, and akin to Gr. kvepti to breathe, smell, Russ. kopote fine soot. Cf. Vapid.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Liberty 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, Liberty, 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/liberty.html, id L16415.
Form and metre
Liberty is 21 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%). 75% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 24% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic 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 ABABB otherA · zoneB · anotherA · throneB · blownB
- 2 ABABB flashesA · aroundB · ashesA · soundB · undergroundB
- 3 ABABB glareA · trampB · stareA · lampB · dampB
- 4 ABABCC exhalationA · blastB · nationA · castB · nightC · lightC
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The fiery mountains answer each other; | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Their thunderings are echoed from zone to zone; | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| The tempestuous oceans awake one another, | 12 | ··/˘/˘˘/·˘/˘ |
| And the ice-rocks are shaken round Winter's throne, | 11 | ·····/˘·/˘· |
| When the clarion of the Typhoon is blown. | 10 | ··/˘···/·· |
| From a single cloud the lightening flashes, | 11 | ··/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| Whilst a thousand isles are illumined around, | 11 | ··/˘··˘/˘·· |
| Earthquake is trampling one city to ashes, | 11 | /··/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| An hundred are shuddering and tottering; the sound | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Is bellowing underground. | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| But keener thy gaze than the lightening's glare, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And swifter thy step than the earthquake's tramp; | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| Thou deafenest the rage of the ocean; thy stare | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| Makes blind the volcanoes; the sun's bright lamp | 10 | ···˘/˘···· |
| To thine is a fen-fire damp. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| From billow and mountain and exhalation | 11 | ·/˘·/˘··˘/˘ |
| The sunlight is darted through vapour and blast; | 11 | ·/··/˘·/˘·· |
| From spirit to spirit, from nation to nation, | 11 | ·/·/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| From city to hamlet thy dawning is cast,-- | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| And tyrants and slaves are like shadows of night | 11 | ·/˘····/··· |
| In the van of the morning light. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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.