Analysis of A Dialogue
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 (Horsham) – 1822 (Lerici)
DEATH:
For my dagger is bathed in the blood of the brave,
I come, care-worn tenant of life, from the grave,
Where Innocence sleeps 'neath the peace-giving sod,
And the good cease to tremble at Tyranny's nod;
I offer a calm habitation to thee,--
Say, victim of grief, wilt thou slumber with me?
My mansion is damp, cold silence is there,
But it lulls in oblivion the fiends of despair;
Not a groan of regret, not a sigh, not a breath,
Dares dispute with grim Silence the empire of Death.
I offer a calm habitation to thee,--
Say, victim of grief, wilt thou slumber with me?
MORTAL:
Mine eyelids are heavy; my soul seeks repose,
It longs in thy cells to embosom its woes,
It longs in thy cells to deposit its load,
Where no longer the scorpions of Perfidy goad,--
Where the phantoms of Prejudice vanish away,
And Bigotry's bloodhounds lose scent of their prey.
Yet tell me, dark Death, when thine empire is o'er,
What awaits on Futurity's mist-covered shore?
DEATH:
Cease, cease, wayward Mortal! I dare not unveil
The shadows that float o'er Eternity's vale;
Nought waits for the good but a spirit of Love,
That will hail their blest advent to regions above.
For Love, Mortal, gleams through the gloom of my sway,
And the shades which surround me fly fast at its ray.
Hast thou loved?--Then depart from these regions of hate,
And in slumber with me blunt the arrows of fate.
I offer a calm habitation to thee.--
Say, victim of grief, wilt thou slumber with me?
MORTAL:
Oh! sweet is thy slumber! oh! sweet is the ray
Which after thy night introduces the day;
How concealed, how persuasive, self-interest’s breath,
Though it floats to mine ear from the bosom of Death!
I hoped that I quite was forgotten by all,
Yet a lingering friend might be grieved at my fall,
And duty forbids, though I languish to die,
When departure might heave Virtue’s breast with a sigh.
O Death! O my friend! snatch this form to thy shrine,
And I fear, dear destroyer, I shall not repine.
Scheme | AbbccDDeeaaDD Fgghhiixx AjjkkiillDD Fiiaammnnoo |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 111011001101 11111011101 11001101101 0011110111 1100101011 11011111011 1101111011 1110010001101 101101101101 1011110010011 1100101011 11011111011 10 1111011101 110111111 11011101011 1110010011001 101011001001 011011111 1111111100110 101111101 1 11101011101 01111011 11101101011 11111111001 11101101111 001101111111 111101111011 001011101011 1100101011 11011111011 10 11111011101 1101101001 10110101101 111111101011 11111101011 101001111111 01001111011 101011101101 11111111111 01110101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,934 |
Words | 361 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 13, 9, 11, 11 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 378 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 89 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 04, 2023
- 1:50 min read
- 132 Views
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"A Dialogue" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29021/a-dialogue>.
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