On Death
IN THE GRAVE, WHITHER THOU GOEST.--Ecclesiastes.
The pale, the cold, and the moony smileWhich the meteor beam of a starless nightSheds on a lonely and sea-girt isle,Ere the dawning of morn's undoubted light,Is the flame of life so fickle and wanThat flits round our steps till their strength is gone.
O man! hold thee on in courage of soulThrough the stormy shades of thy worldly way,And the billows of cloud that around thee rollShall sleep in the light of a wondrous day,Where Hell and Heaven shall leave thee freeTo the universe of destiny.
This world is the nurse of all we know,This world is the mother of all we feel,And the coming of death is a fearful blowTo a brain unencompassed with nerves of steel;When all that we know, or feel, or see,Shall pass like an unreal mystery.
The secret things of the grave are there,Where all but this frame must surely be,Though the fine-wrought eye and the wondrous earNo longer will live to hear or to seeAll that is great and all that is strangeIn the boundless realm of unending change.
Who telleth a tale of unspeaking death?Who lifteth the veil of what is to come?Who painteth the shadows that are beneathThe wide-winding caves of the peopled tomb?Or uniteth the hopes of what shall beWith the fears and the love for that which we see?
Words in this poem
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
- ecclesiastes n.
- One of the canonical books of the Old Testament. [L., fr. Gr. Ecclesiastic, a.]
- moony a.
- Of or pertaining to the moon.
- starless a.
- Being without stars; having no stars visible; as, a starless night.
- 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.]
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- undoubted a.
- Not doubted; not called in question; indubitable; indisputable; as, undoubted proof; undoubted hero.
- 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,]
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- peopled a.
- Stocked with, or as with, people; inhabited.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Death 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, On Death, 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/on-death.html, id L16298.
Form and metre
On Death is 31 lines in 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 73%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 39% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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.
- 2 ABAB-- smileA · nightB · isleA · lightB · wan · gone
- 3 ABAB-- soulA · wayB · rollA · dayB · free · destiny
- 4 ABAB-- knowA · feelB · blowA · steelB · see · mystery
- 5 ABABCC thereA · beB · earA · seeB · strangeC · changeC
- 6 ----AA death · come · beneath · tomb · beA · seeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| IN THE GRAVE, WHITHER THOU GOEST.--Ecclesiastes. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| The pale, the cold, and the moony smile | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Which the meteor beam of a starless night | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Sheds on a lonely and sea-girt isle, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Ere the dawning of morn's undoubted light, | 10 | ··/˘··˘/˘· |
| Is the flame of life so fickle and wan | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| That flits round our steps till their strength is gone. | 10 | ···/······ |
| O man! hold thee on in courage of soul | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Through the stormy shades of thy worldly way, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| And the billows of cloud that around thee roll | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Shall sleep in the light of a wondrous day, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Where Hell and Heaven shall leave thee free | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| To the universe of destiny. | 9 | ··/˘··/˘˘ |
| This world is the nurse of all we know, | 9 | ········· |
| This world is the mother of all we feel, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| And the coming of death is a fearful blow | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| To a brain unencompassed with nerves of steel; | 11 | ··········· |
| When all that we know, or feel, or see, | 9 | ········· |
| Shall pass like an unreal mystery. | 9 | ····˘//˘˘ |
| The secret things of the grave are there, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Where all but this frame must surely be, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Though the fine-wrought eye and the wondrous ear | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| No longer will live to hear or to see | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| All that is great and all that is strange | 9 | ········· |
| In the boundless realm of unending change. | 10 | ··/˘··˘/˘· |
| Who telleth a tale of unspeaking death? | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Who lifteth the veil of what is to come? | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Who painteth the shadows that are beneath | 10 | ·/˘·/····· |
| The wide-winding caves of the peopled tomb? | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Or uniteth the hopes of what shall be | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| With the fears and the love for that which we see? | 11 | ··········· |
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.