Another Fragment (A)
Yes, often when the eyes are cold and dry,And the lips calm, the Spirit weeps withinTears bitterer than the blood of agony
Trembling in drops on the discoloured skinOf those who love their kind and therefore perishIn ghastly torture--a sweet medicine
Of peace and sleep are tears, and quietlyThem soothe from whose uplifted eyes they fallBut...
Words in this poem
- discoloured a.
- Altered in color;
- soothe v. t.
- To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Another Fragment (A) is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #4797; 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, Another Fragment (A), in Alastor, and Other Poems (1813–1820), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4797, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-poems/another-fragment-a.html, id L00223.
Form and metre
Another Fragment (A) is 9 lines in 3 stanzas of 3 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 83% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 78% 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.
- 2 A-A skinA · perish · medicineA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yes, often when the eyes are cold and dry, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And the lips calm, the Spirit weeps within | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Tears bitterer than the blood of agony | 11 | ········/˘˘ |
| Trembling in drops on the discoloured skin | 10 | /˘····˘/˘· |
| Of those who love their kind and therefore perish | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| In ghastly torture--a sweet medicine | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| Of peace and sleep are tears, and quietly | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Them soothe from whose uplifted eyes they fall | 10 | ····/˘˘··· |
| But... | 1 | · |
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.