Fragment 3
And when the old man saw that on the greenLeaves of his opening ... a blight had lightedHe said: 'My friend, one grief alone can wean
A gentle mind from all that once delighted:--Thou lovest, and thy secret heart is ladenWith feelings which should not be unrequited.'
And Athanase ... then smiled, as one o'erladenWith iron chains might smile to talk (?) of bandsTwined round her lover's neck by some blithe maiden,And said...
Words in this poem
- delighted a.
- Endowed with delight.
- blithe a.
- Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fragment 3 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, Fragment 3, in Alastor, and Other Poems (1813–1820), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4797, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-poems/fragment-3.html, id L00219.
Form and metre
Fragment 3 is 10 lines in 3 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 9.8 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 60% 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 A-A greenA · lighted · weanA
- 2 A-A delightedA · laden · unrequitedA
- 3 A-A- o'erladenA · bands · maidenA · said
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 |
|---|---|---|
| And when the old man saw that on the green | 10 | ·········· |
| Leaves of his opening ... a blight had lighted | 11 | ···/˘˘···/˘ |
| He said: 'My friend, one grief alone can wean | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| A gentle mind from all that once delighted:-- | 11 | ·/˘·····˘/˘ |
| Thou lovest, and thy secret heart is laden | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| With feelings which should not be unrequited.' | 11 | ·/˘·····˘/˘ |
| And Athanase ... then smiled, as one o'erladen | 11 | ··········· |
| With iron chains might smile to talk (?) of bands | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Twined round her lover's neck by some blithe maiden, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| And said... | 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.