Ode to Naples: Epode 1a
I stood within the City disinterred;And heard the autumnal leaves like light footfallsOf spirits passing through the streets; and heardThe Mountain's slumberous voice at intervalsThrill through those roofless halls;The oracular thunder penetrating shookThe listening soul in my suspended blood;I felt that Earth out of her deep heart spoke--I felt, but heard not:--through white columns glowedThe isle-sustaining ocean-flood,A plane of light between two heavens of azure!Around me gleamed many a bright sepulchreOf whose pure beauty, Time, as if his pleasureWere to spare Death, had never made erasure;But every living lineament was clearAs in the sculptor's thought; and thereThe wreaths of stony myrtle, ivy, and pine,Like winter leaves o'ergrown by moulded snow,Seemed only not to move and growBecause the crystal silence of the airWeighed on their life; even as the Power divineWhich then lulled all things, brooded upon mine.
Words in this poem
- slumberous a.
- Inviting slumber; soporiferous.
- roofless a.
- Having no roof; as, a roofless house.
- oracular a.
- Of or pertaining to an oracle; uttering oracles; forecasting the future; as, an oracular tongue. [L. oracularius. See Oracle.]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- sepulchre n.
- The place in which the dead body of a human being is interred, or a place set apart for that purpose; a grave; a tomb. [OE. sepulcre, OF. sepulcre, F. sépulcre, fr. L. sepulcrum, sepulchrum, fr. sepelire to bury.]
- erasure n.
- The act of erasing; a scratching out; obliteration. [From Erase.]
- lineament n.
- One of the outlines, exterior features, or distinctive marks, of a body or figure, particularly of the face; feature; form; mark; - - usually in the plural. [L. lineamentum, fr. linea line: cf. F. linéament. See 3d Line.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ode to Naples: Epode 1a 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, Ode to Naples: Epode 1a, 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/ode-to-naples-epode-1a.html, id L16401.
Form and metre
Ode to Naples: Epode 1a is 22 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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-C--C----DDEFFDEE disinterredA · footfallsB · heardA · intervalsB · hallsB · shook · bloodC · spoke · glowed · floodC · azure · sepulchre · pleasure · erasure · clearD · thereD · pineE · snowF · growF · airD · divineE · mineE
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I stood within the City disinterred; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And heard the autumnal leaves like light footfalls | 11 | ···˘/˘···/· |
| Of spirits passing through the streets; and heard | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| The Mountain's slumberous voice at intervals | 11 | ·/˘/˘˘··/˘˘ |
| Thrill through those roofless halls; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The oracular thunder penetrating shook | 12 | ·˘/˘˘/˘/˘·˘· |
| The listening soul in my suspended blood; | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| I felt that Earth out of her deep heart spoke-- | 10 | ·········· |
| I felt, but heard not:--through white columns glowed | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The isle-sustaining ocean-flood, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| A plane of light between two heavens of azure! | 12 | ·······/˘·/˘ |
| Around me gleamed many a bright sepulchre | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Of whose pure beauty, Time, as if his pleasure | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Were to spare Death, had never made erasure; | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| But every living lineament was clear | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘˘·· |
| As in the sculptor's thought; and there | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The wreaths of stony myrtle, ivy, and pine, | 11 | ···/˘/˘/˘·· |
| Like winter leaves o'ergrown by moulded snow, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Seemed only not to move and grow | 9 | ·˘/˘····· |
| Because the crystal silence of the air | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Weighed on their life; even as the Power divine | 10 | ····/··/˘/ |
| Which then lulled all things, brooded upon mine. | 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.