The Magnetic Lady to Her Patient
'Sleep, sleep on! forget thy pain;My hand is on thy brow,My spirit on thy brain;My pity on thy heart, poor friend;And from my fingers flowThe powers of life, and like a sign,Seal thee from thine hour of woe;And brood on thee, but may not blendWith thine.
'Sleep, sleep on! I love thee not;But when I think that heWho made and makes my lotAs full of flowers as thine of weeds,Might have been lost like thee;And that a hand which was not mineMight then have charmed his agonyAs I another's--my heart bleedsFor thine.
'Sleep, sleep, and with the slumber ofThe dead and the unbornForget thy life and love;Forget that thou must wake forever;Forget the world's dull scorn;Forget lost health, and the divineFeelings which died in youth's brief morn;And forget me, for I can neverBe thine.
'Like a cloud big with a May shower,My soul weeps healing rainOn thee, thou withered flower!It breathes mute music on thy sleepIts odour calms thy brain!Its light within thy gloomy breastSpreads like a second youth again.By mine thy being is to its deepPossessed.
'The spell is done. How feel you now?''Better--Quite well,' repliedThe sleeper.--'What would doYou good when suffering and awake?What cure your head and side?--''What would cure, that would kill me, Jane:And as I must on earth abideAwhile, yet tempt me not to breakMy chain.'
Words in this poem
- unborn a.
- Not born; no yet brought into life; being still to appear; future.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- odour n.
- Any smell, whether fragrant or offensive; scent; perfume. [OE. odor, odour, OF. odor, odour, F. odeur, fr. L. odor; akin to olere to smell, Gr. Olfactory, Osmium, Ozone, Redolent.]
- sleeper n.
- One who sleeps; a slumberer; hence, a drone, or lazy person.
- jane n.
- A coin of Genoa; any small coin. [LL. Janua Genoa; L. Genua, also OE. Jean.]
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Magnetic Lady to Her Patient 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, The Magnetic Lady to Her Patient, 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/the-magnetic-lady-to-her-patient.html, id L16478.
Form and metre
The Magnetic Lady to Her Patient is 45 lines in 5 stanzas of 9 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABACBDBCD, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% 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 A-ABCDCBD painA · brow · brainA · friendB · flowC · signD · woeC · blendB · thineD
- 2 ABACBDBCD notA · heB · lotA · weedsC · theeB · mineD · agonyB · bleedsC · thineD
- 3 ABACBDBCD ofA · unbornB · loveA · foreverC · scornB · divineD · mornB · neverC · thineD
- 4 ABACBDBCD showerA · rainB · flowerA · sleepC · brainB · breastD · againB · deepC · possessedD
- 5 -A-BACABC now · repliedA · do · awakeB · sideA · janeC · abideA · breakB · chainC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 'Sleep, sleep on! forget thy pain; | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| My hand is on thy brow, | 6 | ······ |
| My spirit on thy brain; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| My pity on thy heart, poor friend; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And from my fingers flow | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The powers of life, and like a sign, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Seal thee from thine hour of woe; | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| And brood on thee, but may not blend | 8 | ········ |
| With thine. | 2 | ·· |
| 'Sleep, sleep on! I love thee not; | 7 | ······· |
| But when I think that he | 6 | ······ |
| Who made and makes my lot | 6 | ······ |
| As full of flowers as thine of weeds, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Might have been lost like thee; | 6 | ······ |
| And that a hand which was not mine | 8 | ········ |
| Might then have charmed his agony | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| As I another's--my heart bleeds | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| For thine. | 2 | ·· |
| 'Sleep, sleep, and with the slumber of | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The dead and the unborn | 6 | ····// |
| Forget thy life and love; | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Forget that thou must wake forever; | 9 | ˘/····˘/˘ |
| Forget the world's dull scorn; | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Forget lost health, and the divine | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| Feelings which died in youth's brief morn; | 8 | /˘······ |
| And forget me, for I can never | 9 | ·˘/····/˘ |
| Be thine. | 2 | ·· |
| 'Like a cloud big with a May shower, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| My soul weeps healing rain | 6 | ···/˘· |
| On thee, thou withered flower! | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| It breathes mute music on thy sleep | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Its odour calms thy brain! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Its light within thy gloomy breast | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Spreads like a second youth again. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| By mine thy being is to its deep | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Possessed. | 2 | ˘/ |
| 'The spell is done. How feel you now?' | 8 | ········ |
| 'Better--Quite well,' replied | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| The sleeper.--'What would do | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| You good when suffering and awake? | 9 | ···/˘˘·˘/ |
| What cure your head and side?--' | 6 | ······ |
| 'What would cure, that would kill me, Jane: | 8 | ········ |
| And as I must on earth abide | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Awhile, yet tempt me not to break | 8 | ˘/······ |
| My chain.' | 2 | ·· |
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.