Lines: 'When the Lamp Is Shattered'
When the lamp is shatteredThe light in the dust lies dead--When the cloud is scatteredThe rainbow's glory is shed.When the lute is broken,Sweet tones are remembered not;When the lips have spoken,Loved accents are soon forgot.
As music and splendourSurvive not the lamp and the lute,The heart's echoes renderNo song when the spirit is mute:--No song but sad dirges,Like the wind through a ruined cell,Or the mournful surgesThat ring the dead seaman's knell.
When hearts have once mingledLove first leaves the well-built nest;The weak one is singledTo endure what it once possessed.O Love! who bewailestThe frailty of all things here,Why choose you the frailestFor your cradle, your home, and your bier?
Its passions will rock theeAs the storms rock the ravens on high;Bright reason will mock thee,Like the sun from a wintry sky.From thy nest every rafterWill rot, and thine eagle homeLeave thee naked to laughter,When leaves fall and cold winds come.
Words in this poem
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
- frailty n.
- The condition quality of being frail, physically, mentally, or morally, frailness; infirmity; weakness of resolution; liableness to be deceived or seduced. [OE. frelete, freilte, OF. fraileté, fr. L. fragilitas. See Frail, a., and cf. Fragility.]
- bier n.
- A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- rafter n.
- Originally, any rough and somewhat heavy piece of timber. Now, commonly, one of the timbers of a roof which are put on sloping, according to the inclination of the roof. See Illust. of Queen-post. [AS. ræfter; akin to E. raft, n. See Raft.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lines: 'When the Lamp Is Shattered' 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, Lines: 'When the Lamp Is Shattered', 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/lines-when-the-lamp-is-shattered.html, id L16479.
Form and metre
Lines: 'When the Lamp Is Shattered' is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.9 syllables. 14 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% 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 ABABCDCD shatteredA · deadB · scatteredA · shedB · brokenC · notD · spokenC · forgotD
- 2 ABABCDCD splendourA · luteB · renderA · muteB · dirgesC · cellD · surgesC · knellD
- 3 ABABBCBC mingledA · nestB · singledA · possessedB · bewailestB · hereC · frailestB · bierC
- 4 ABABCDCD theeA · highB · theeA · skyB · rafterC · homeD · laughterC · comeD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When the lamp is shattered | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The light in the dust lies dead-- | 7 | ······· |
| When the cloud is scattered | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The rainbow's glory is shed. | 7 | ·/·/˘·· |
| When the lute is broken, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Sweet tones are remembered not; | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| When the lips have spoken, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Loved accents are soon forgot. | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| As music and splendour | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Survive not the lamp and the lute, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| The heart's echoes render | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| No song when the spirit is mute:-- | 7 | ····/·· |
| No song but sad dirges, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Like the wind through a ruined cell, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or the mournful surges | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| That ring the dead seaman's knell. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| When hearts have once mingled | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Love first leaves the well-built nest; | 7 | ······· |
| The weak one is singled | 6 | ····/˘ |
| To endure what it once possessed. | 8 | ·˘/···˘/ |
| O Love! who bewailest | 6 | ······ |
| The frailty of all things here, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Why choose you the frailest | 6 | ····/˘ |
| For your cradle, your home, and your bier? | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Its passions will rock thee | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| As the storms rock the ravens on high; | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Bright reason will mock thee, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Like the sun from a wintry sky. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| From thy nest every rafter | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Will rot, and thine eagle home | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Leave thee naked to laughter, | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| When leaves fall and cold winds come. | 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.