Percy Bysshe Shelley: Similes for Two Political Characters of 1819
Updated May 6, 2020 |
Infoplease Staff
Similes for Two Political Characters of 1819
Published by Medwin, "The Athenaeum", August 25, 1832; reprinted by Mrs. Shelley, "Poetical Works", 1839. Our title is that of 1839, 2nd edition. The poem is found amongst the Harvard manuscripts, headed "To S-th and O-gh".
1.
As from an ancestral oak
Two empty ravens sound their clarion,
Yell by yell, and croak by croak,
When they scent the noonday smoke
Of fresh human carrion:—
As from an ancestral oak
Two empty ravens sound their clarion,
Yell by yell, and croak by croak,
When they scent the noonday smoke
Of fresh human carrion:—
2.
As two gibbering night-birds flit
From their bowers of deadly yew
Through the night to frighten it,
When the moon is in a fit,
And the stars are none, or few:—
As two gibbering night-birds flit
From their bowers of deadly yew
Through the night to frighten it,
When the moon is in a fit,
And the stars are none, or few:—
3.
As a shark and dog-fish wait
Under an Atlantic isle,
For the negro-ship, whose freight
Is the theme of their debate,
Wrinkling their red gills the while—
As a shark and dog-fish wait
Under an Atlantic isle,
For the negro-ship, whose freight
Is the theme of their debate,
Wrinkling their red gills the while—
4.
Are ye, two vultures sick for battle,
Two scorpions under one wet stone,
Two bloodless wolves whose dry throats rattle,
Two crows perched on the murrained cattle,
Two vipers tangled into one.
Are ye, two vultures sick for battle,
Two scorpions under one wet stone,
Two bloodless wolves whose dry throats rattle,
Two crows perched on the murrained cattle,
Two vipers tangled into one.
NOTE:
_7 yew 1832; hue 1839.
_7 yew 1832; hue 1839.
.com/t/lit/shelley/2/5/3.html
Trending
Here are the facts and trivia that people are buzzing about.
