Similes for Two Political Characters of 1819
As from an ancestral oakTwo empty ravens sound their clarion,Yell by yell, and croak by croak,When they scent the noonday smokeOf fresh human carrion:--
As two gibbering night-birds flitFrom their bowers of deadly yewThrough the night to frighten it,When the moon is in a fit,And the stars are none, or few:--
As a shark and dog-fish waitUnder an Atlantic isle,For the negro-ship, whose freightIs the theme of their debate,Wrinkling their red gills the while--
Are ye, two vultures sick for battle,Two scorpions under one wet stone,Two bloodless wolves whose dry throats rattle,Two crows perched on the murrained cattle,Two vipers tangled into one.
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.]
- croak v. i.
- To make a low, hoarse noise in the throat, as a frog, a raven, or a crow; hence, to make any hoarse, dismal sound. [From the primitive of AS. cracettan to croak as a raven; akin to G. kr to croak, and to E. creak, crake.]
- noonday n.
- Midday; twelve o'clock in the day; noon.
- flit a.
- Nimble; quick; swift. See Fleet.
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Similes for Two Political Characters of 1819 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, Similes for Two Political Characters of 1819, in The Complete Poetical Works, Volume II (1816–1819), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4798, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-later-poems/similes-for-two-political-characters-of-1819.html, id L16350.
Form and metre
Similes for Two Political Characters of 1819 is 20 lines in 4 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% 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 ABAAB oakA · clarionB · croakA · smokeA · carrionB
- 2 ABAAB flitA · yewB · itA · fitA · fewB
- 3 ABAAB waitA · isleB · freightA · debateA · whileB
- 4 A-AA- battleA · stone · rattleA · cattleA · one
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As from an ancestral oak | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Two empty ravens sound their clarion, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| Yell by yell, and croak by croak, | 7 | ······· |
| When they scent the noonday smoke | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Of fresh human carrion:-- | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| As two gibbering night-birds flit | 8 | ········ |
| From their bowers of deadly yew | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| Through the night to frighten it, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| When the moon is in a fit, | 7 | ······· |
| And the stars are none, or few:-- | 7 | ······· |
| As a shark and dog-fish wait | 7 | ······· |
| Under an Atlantic isle, | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| For the negro-ship, whose freight | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Is the theme of their debate, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Wrinkling their red gills the while-- | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| Are ye, two vultures sick for battle, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Two scorpions under one wet stone, | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| Two bloodless wolves whose dry throats rattle, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Two crows perched on the murrained cattle, | 10 | ···˘····/˘ |
| Two vipers tangled into one. | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘··· |
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.