Fragment 6
Thou art the wine whose drunkenness is allWe can desire, O Love! and happy souls,Ere from thy vine the leaves of autumn fall,
Catch thee, and feed from their o'erflowing bowlsThousands who thirst for thine ambrosial dew;--Thou art the radiance which where ocean rolls
Investeth it; and when the heavens are blueThou fillest them; and when the earth is fairThe shadow of thy moving wings imbue
Its deserts and its mountains, till they wearBeauty like some light robe;--thou ever soarestAmong the towers of men, and as soft air
In spring, which moves the unawakened forest,Clothing with leaves its branches bare and bleak,Thou floatest among men; and aye implorest
That which from thee they should implore:--the weakAlone kneel to thee, offering up the heartsThe strong have broken--yet where shall any seek
A garment whom thou clothest not? the dartsOf the keen winter storm, barbed with frost,Which, from the everlasting snow that parts
The Alps from Heaven, pierce some traveller lostIn the wide waved interminable snowUngarmented,...
Words in this poem
- ambrosial a.
- Consisting of, or partaking of the nature of, ambrosia; delighting the taste or smell; delicious.
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fragment 6 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 6, in Alastor, and Other Poems (1813–1820), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4797, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-poems/fragment-6.html, id L00222.
Form and metre
Fragment 6 is 24 lines in 8 stanzas of 3 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 85% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 71% 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 allA · soulsB · fallA
- 2 BCB bowlsB · dewC · rollsB
- 3 CDC blueC · fairD · imbueC
- 4 DED wearD · soarestE · airD
- 5 -FE forest · bleakF · implorestE
- 6 FGF weakF · heartsG · seekF
- 7 GHG dartsG · frostH · partsG
- 8 H-- lostH · snow · ungarmented
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thou art the wine whose drunkenness is all | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| We can desire, O Love! and happy souls, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Ere from thy vine the leaves of autumn fall, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Catch thee, and feed from their o'erflowing bowls | 10 | ·········· |
| Thousands who thirst for thine ambrosial dew;-- | 10 | /˘····˘/˘· |
| Thou art the radiance which where ocean rolls | 10 | ···/˘˘··/· |
| Investeth it; and when the heavens are blue | 11 | ˘/˘····/˘·· |
| Thou fillest them; and when the earth is fair | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The shadow of thy moving wings imbue | 10 | ·/···/˘·˘/ |
| Its deserts and its mountains, till they wear | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Beauty like some light robe;--thou ever soarest | 11 | /˘·····/˘/˘ |
| Among the towers of men, and as soft air | 10 | ···/······ |
| In spring, which moves the unawakened forest, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Clothing with leaves its branches bare and bleak, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Thou floatest among men; and aye implorest | 11 | ·/˘·····˘/˘ |
| That which from thee they should implore:--the weak | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Alone kneel to thee, offering up the hearts | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| The strong have broken--yet where shall any seek | 11 | ···/˘···/˘· |
| A garment whom thou clothest not? the darts | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Of the keen winter storm, barbed with frost, | 10 | ···/˘··˘·· |
| Which, from the everlasting snow that parts | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| The Alps from Heaven, pierce some traveller lost | 10 | ···/··/˘˘· |
| In the wide waved interminable snow | 10 | ····˘/˘˘˘· |
| Ungarmented,... | 4 | ···· |
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