Another Fragment (B)
Her hair was brown, her sphered eyes were brown,And in their dark and liquid moisture swam,Like the dim orb of the eclipsed moon;
Yet when the spirit flashed beneath, there cameThe light from them, as when tears of delightDouble the western planet's serene flame.
About this text
Another Fragment (B) 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 (B), in Alastor, and Other Poems (1813–1820), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4797, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-poems/another-fragment-b.html, id L20502.
Form and metre
Another Fragment (B) is 6 lines in 2 stanzas of 3 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 233 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 cameA · delight · flameA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Her hair was brown, her sphered eyes were brown, | 10 | ······˘··· |
| And in their dark and liquid moisture swam, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Like the dim orb of the eclipsed moon; | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Yet when the spirit flashed beneath, there came | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The light from them, as when tears of delight | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Double the western planet's serene flame. | 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.