The Tower of Famine
Amid the desolation of a city,Which was the cradle, and is now the graveOf an extinguished people,--so that Pity
Weeps o'er the shipwrecks of Oblivion's wave,There stands the Tower of Famine. It is builtUpon some prison-homes, whose dwellers rave
For bread, and gold, and blood: Pain, linked to Guilt,Agitates the light flame of their hours,Until its vital oil is spent or spilt.
There stands the pile, a tower amid the towersAnd sacred domes; each marble-ribbed roof,The brazen-gated temples, and the bowers
Of solitary wealth,--the tempest-proofPavilions of the dark Italian air,--Are by its presence dimmed--they stand aloof,
And are withdrawn--so that the world is bare;As if a spectre wrapped in shapeless terrorAmid a company of ladies fair
Should glide and glow, till it became a mirrorOf all their beauty, and their hair and hue,The life of their sweet eyes, with all its error,Should be absorbed, till they to marble grew.
Words in this poem
- 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]
- desolation n.
- The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation. [F. désolation, L. desolatio.]
- famine n.
- General scarcity of food; dearth; a want of provisions; destitution. [F. famine, fr. L. fames hunger; cf. Gr. hani loss, lack, ha to leave.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- spectre n.
- Something preternaturally visible; an apparition; a ghost; a phantom. [F. spectre, fr. L. spectrum an appearance, image, specter, fr. specere to look. See Spy, and cf. Spectrum.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Tower of Famine 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 Tower of Famine, 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-tower-of-famine.html, id L16417.
Form and metre
The Tower of Famine is 22 lines in 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 46% 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 ABA cityA · graveB · pityA
- 2 BCB waveB · builtC · raveB
- 3 CDC guiltC · hoursD · spiltC
- 4 DED towersD · roofE · bowersD
- 5 EFE proofE · airF · aloofE
- 6 FGF bareF · terrorG · fairF
- 7 -HGH mirror · hueH · errorG · grewH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Amid the desolation of a city, | 11 | ˘/··˘/˘··/˘ |
| Which was the cradle, and is now the grave | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of an extinguished people,--so that Pity | 11 | ··˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Weeps o'er the shipwrecks of Oblivion's wave, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| There stands the Tower of Famine. It is built | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| Upon some prison-homes, whose dwellers rave | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| For bread, and gold, and blood: Pain, linked to Guilt, | 10 | ·········· |
| Agitates the light flame of their hours, | 10 | /˘······/˘ |
| Until its vital oil is spent or spilt. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| There stands the pile, a tower amid the towers | 11 | ·····/˘/·/˘ |
| And sacred domes; each marble-ribbed roof, | 10 | ·/˘˘··/˘·· |
| The brazen-gated temples, and the bowers | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Of solitary wealth,--the tempest-proof | 10 | ·/˘·˘··/˘· |
| Pavilions of the dark Italian air,-- | 10 | ˘/˘···˘/˘· |
| Are by its presence dimmed--they stand aloof, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And are withdrawn--so that the world is bare; | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| As if a spectre wrapped in shapeless terror | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Amid a company of ladies fair | 10 | ˘/·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Should glide and glow, till it became a mirror | 11 | ······˘/·/˘ |
| Of all their beauty, and their hair and hue, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The life of their sweet eyes, with all its error, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Should be absorbed, till they to marble grew. | 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.