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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LINES WRITTEN ON HEARING THE NEWS OF THE DEATH OF NAPOLEON, by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: What! Alive and so bold, o earth? Last Line: Shrouds me, the hopes that from his glory fled.' Variant Title(s): Napoleon Subject(s): Napoleon I (1769-1821) | |||
What! alive and so bold, O Earth? Art thou not over-bold? What! leapest thou forth as of old In the light of thy morning mirth, The last of the flock of the starry fold? Ha! leapest forth as of old? Are not the limbs still when the ghost is fled, And canst thou move, Napoleon being dead? How! is not thy quick heart cold? What spark is alive on thy hearth? How! is not his death-knell knolled? And livest thou still, Mother Earth? Thou wert warming thy fingers old O'er the embers covered and cold Of that most fiery spirit, when it fled; What, Mother, do you laugh now he is dead? 'Who has known me of old,' replied Earth, 'Or who has my story told? It is thou who art over-bold.' And the lightning of scorn laughed forth As she sung, 'To my bosom I fold All my sons when their knell is knolled, And so with living motion all are fed, And the quick spring like weeds out of the dead. 'Still alive and still bold,' shouted Earth, 'I grow bolder, and still more bold. The dead fill me ten-thousand fold Fuller of speed, and splendor, and mirth. I was cloudy, and sullen, and cold, Like a frozen chaos uprolled, Till by the spirit of the mighty dead My heart grew warm. I feed on whom I fed. 'Ay, alive and still bold!' muttered Earth, 'Napoleon's fierce spirit rolled, In terror, and blood, and gold, A torrent of ruin ro death from his birth. Leave the millions who follow to mould The metal before it be cold; And weave into his shame, which like the dead Shrouds me, the hopes that from his glory fled.' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BETRAND AND GOURGAUD TALK OVER OLD TIMES by EDGAR LEE MASTERS BONAPARTISME by KENNETH REXROTH AN ISLAND (SAINT HELENA, 1821) by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON ADVICE TO A RAVEN IN RUSSIA by JOEL BARLOW INCIDENT OF THE FRENCH CAMP by ROBERT BROWNING NAPEOLON'S FAREWELL; FROM THE FRENCH by GEORGE GORDON BYRON BATTLE OF THE BALTIC by THOMAS CAMPBELL HOHENLINDEN by THOMAS CAMPBELL NAPOLEON AND THE BRITISH [OR ENGLISH] SAILOR [BOY] by THOMAS CAMPBELL A DIRGE by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY ADONAIS; AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF JOHN KEATS by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY |
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