Sonnet: Political Greatness
Nor happiness, nor majesty, nor fame,Nor peace, nor strength, nor skill in arms or arts,Shepherd those herds whom tyranny makes tame;Verse echoes not one beating of their hearts,History is but the shadow of their shame,Art veils her glass, or from the pageant startsAs to oblivion their blind millions fleet,Staining that Heaven with obscene imageryOf their own likeness. What are numbers knitBy force or custom? Man who man would be,Must rule the empire of himself; in itMust be supreme, establishing his throneOn vanquished will, quelling the anarchyOf hopes and fears, being himself alone.
Words in this poem
- pageant n.
- A theatrical exhibition; a spectacle. [OE. pagent, pagen, originally, a movable scaffold or stage, hence, what was exhibited on it, fr. LL. pagina, akin to pangere to fasten; cf. L. pagina page, leaf]
- oblivion n.
- The act of forgetting, or the state of being forgotten; cessation of remembrance; forgetfulness. [L. oblivio, akin to oblivisci to forget: cf. OF. oblivion.]
- imagery n.
- The work of one who makes images or visible representation of objects; imitation work; images in general, or in mass. [OE. imagerie, F. imagerie.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet: Political Greatness 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, Sonnet: Political Greatness, in The Complete Poetical Works, Volume II (1816–1819), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4798, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-later-poems/sonnet-political-greatness.html, id L16445.
Form and metre
Sonnet: Political Greatness is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 83% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% 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 ABABAB--C-CD-D fameA · artsB · tameA · heartsB · shameA · startsB · fleet · imagery · knitC · be · itC · throneD · anarchy · aloneD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nor happiness, nor majesty, nor fame, | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘˘·· |
| Nor peace, nor strength, nor skill in arms or arts, | 10 | ·········· |
| Shepherd those herds whom tyranny makes tame; | 10 | /˘···/˘˘·· |
| Verse echoes not one beating of their hearts, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| History is but the shadow of their shame, | 10 | /˘···/···· |
| Art veils her glass, or from the pageant starts | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| As to oblivion their blind millions fleet, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Staining that Heaven with obscene imagery | 11 | /˘·/˘·˘//˘˘ |
| Of their own likeness. What are numbers knit | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| By force or custom? Man who man would be, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Must rule the empire of himself; in it | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Must be supreme, establishing his throne | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| On vanquished will, quelling the anarchy | 10 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘˘ |
| Of hopes and fears, being himself alone. | 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.