Otho
Thou wert not, Cassius, and thou couldst not be,Last of the Romans, though thy memory claimFrom Brutus his own glory--and on theeRests the full splendour of his sacred fame:Nor he who dared make the foul tyrant quailAmid his cowering senate with thy name,Though thou and he were great--it will availTo thine own fame that Otho's should not fail.
'Twill wrong thee not--thou wouldst, if thou couldst feel,Abjure such envious fame--great Otho diedLike thee--he sanctified his country's steel,At once the tyrant and tyrannicide,In his own blood--a deed it was to bringTears from all men--though full of gentle pride,Such pride as from impetuous love may spring,That will not be refused its offering.
Words in this poem
- cassius n.
- A brownish purple pigment, obtained by the action of some compounds of tin upon certain salts of gold. It is used in painting and staining porcelain and glass to give a beautiful purple color. [From the name of the discoverer, A. Cassius, a German physician of the 17th centry.]
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- abjure v. t.
- To renounce upon oath; to forswear; to disavow; as, to abjure allegiance to a prince. To abjure the realm, is to swear to abandon it forever. [L. abjurare to deny upon oath; ab + jurare to swear, fr. jus, juris, right, law; cf. F. abjurer. See Jury.]
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
- sanctified a.
- Made holy; also, made to have the air of sanctity; sanctimonious.
- tyrannicide n.
- The act of killing a tyrant. Hume. [L. tyrannicidium the killing of a tyrant, tyrannicida the killer of a tyrant; tyrannus a tyrant + caedere to kill: cf. F. tyrannicide.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Otho 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, Otho, in The Complete Poetical Works, Volume II (1816–1819), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4798, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-later-poems/otho.html, id L16321.
Form and metre
Otho is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCBCC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 2 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 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 ABABCBCC beA · claimB · theeA · fameB · quailC · nameB · availC · failC
- 2 ABABCBCC feelA · diedB · steelA · tyrannicideB · bringC · prideB · springC · offeringC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thou wert not, Cassius, and thou couldst not be, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Last of the Romans, though thy memory claim | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| From Brutus his own glory--and on thee | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Rests the full splendour of his sacred fame: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Nor he who dared make the foul tyrant quail | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Amid his cowering senate with thy name, | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘··· |
| Though thou and he were great--it will avail | 10 | ········˘/ |
| To thine own fame that Otho's should not fail. | 10 | ·········· |
| 'Twill wrong thee not--thou wouldst, if thou couldst feel, | 10 | ·········· |
| Abjure such envious fame--great Otho died | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| Like thee--he sanctified his country's steel, | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| At once the tyrant and tyrannicide, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| In his own blood--a deed it was to bring | 10 | ·········· |
| Tears from all men--though full of gentle pride, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Such pride as from impetuous love may spring, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| That will not be refused its offering. | 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.